My Ordinary Life As A State Alchemist
by Sora Kim
Summary: Suddenly, we are plunged into the life of a newbie 'State Alchemist'. She fights against many tough opponents, working along side some of our favorite characters from the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' manga series! As she fights with them, dark secrets are revealed. Pain engulfs our friends, as they fight enemies Central have never fought! Will evil triumph? Collab with lord-phouka. AU
1. Chapter 1: New Friends

Hi everyone~ It's Cat the Author~ This time I've got a Fullmetal Alchemist story for this site~ Yay~ I've actually been working on this for years since the original show was made, so there should be daily updates until I get to the part I haven't finished yet. No OC requests this time, since you'd have to wait too long for an OC to actually show up. I might ask for cameos, but if they are unneeded, then you're out of luck. Anyways, this story takes place when Scar is on the loose. Although I've changed the plot so that Ed had already visited Briggs HQ as well. So... This story will be very different from the original plot, a sort of side-story if you will. It'll still fit in with the plot of the original story, as the ending will probably be one you'd never expect. Also, I've made a few interesting changes to alchemy. There are several branches of alchemy now. Oh and I DON'T OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST! The original story belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. However, I do own this idea, and any stories similar are either copies of mine or just coincidence.

So... Enjoy the chapter before I end up being charged with the murder of all the viewers reading my very boring little note here~

;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3 ;3

**BOOM! The explosion of a building rang in my ears. The wind made my short golden hair flail wildly.**

**"Just go and blow up the entire city!" I yelled sarcastically, glaring at a teenage man, whom had dark, blue short hair. He was trying to keep bombing the city with his explosive alchemy, while also trying not to burn his expensive looking black cape. My name is Sora Kogane, a State Alchemist! My enemy, Tsugoke, is the big bad wolf of the scene at the moment.**

**"I might just do that!" he replied.**

**He was running towards my direction. I sighed and clapped my hands together and touched the ground with the palms of my hands. It was how I, the Tigerwing Alchemist, used alchemy. Using alchemy, I trapped Tsugoke in a small rock cage.**

**"I got you now!" I said in a confident tone. He laughed,**

**"Did you forget my ability?" Using his explosive alchemy, he escaped my clutches.**

**"You cannot cage me!" he shouted valiantly. I scowled and tried to destroy the bracelets he used to create explosions. Using my alchemy, I changed the ground into spikes that aimed for his bracelets. I had managed to at least create a scratch onto the bracelets, as he was very quick! Tsugoke was as quick as a mouse, scurrying about. When I turned, I could see reinforcements coming. A black-haired man wearing a royal blue military jacket had just stepped into the battlefield.**

_Finally!, I thought. It was the Flame Alchemist!_

**"The Flame Alchemist, Colonel Roy Mustang…" Tsugoke murmured to himself.**

_I remember the day I first met him. However, that's a story for another day. Tsugoke started to run away towards a fountain, it had the design of a star with a paw print on it, with wings and a tail sprouting from the star. Small triangle shaped ears were also part of the design, coming out of the top of the star. I knew he was going to attempt to make it explode and make the Colonel's gloves wet. When they were wet, he couldn't use his fire alchemy since the gloves acted as his transmutation circles and they were needed to ignite the air for the flames. So, I quickly spread out my wings._

_Oh yea… I have a bit of a story to tell about that… Well, the first time I heard of alchemy, was at the age of four. My parents were long gone already. The only person I had left, was my brother. He was studying to be a doctor, so that he could save lives. He was six at that time, and as the years went by, he was slowly dying. He was always a weak boy, and was always sick. His name was Azure, named after his beautiful azure eyes. He caught a horrible disease, one that couldn't be cured. Azure died so young, at the age of nine. I was only seven when he died. During the years he studied medicine, I studied alchemy. I came across human transmutation, a way to bring the dead back to life. I told my brother that he shouldn't worry if someone died as he was taking care of them. I would use alchemy to call back their soul. I completely forgot about the law of equivalent exchange. It was the basic and most important law of life, equivalent exchange. In order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. So, when I attempted human transmutation, which was alchemy's greatest taboo, I tried to bring my brother back to life. Even as I tried, the result was not even human. What did I give up, you ask? Well, I had my normal life stripped away. Two animals had accidentally touched the transmutation circle. A golden cat and bird. I gained the cat's claws, ears, tail and fangs, as well as the bird's wings. My old life, I could never live again. I was forever a chimera, something that had multiple attributes of animals. For example, a lion and a crocodile, or a human and a dog. Anyways, back to the present._

**I flew over to Tsugoke and tried to whack him away from the fountain, but he ducked and destroyed the fountain. Water rained down and just before the fountain was destroyed the Colonel snapped his fingers and created a fireball aiming for Tsugoke. Because of the water though, the flame turned into a mist almost like a smoke screen and Tsugoke got away. He grabbed a few of my sharp feathers though, probably to use as grenades for future attacks. When the mist cleared, he was gone.  
"Dang it! " I said, a little frustrated. My right wing was bleeding from where he grabbed my feathers, so I decided to land.  
"Are you alright, Tigerwing?" the Colonel asked me.  
I nodded and hid my wings.  
"It's too bad he got away." Lieutenant Hawkeye sighed.  
"Tigerwing, it seems that for now you should stay in hiding." Colonel Mustang said.  
I nodded and asked, "Where should I hide?"  
He thought for a bit, and then replied, "With the Fullmetal Alchemist."  
He gave me an address, and told me to report to HQ for a little while, to get a bodyguard to get to the address. It was in Central, but in one of the deeper parts than where I'm familiar with. That's when I heard HIS voice... "Of course I'll protect her! She's an important alchemist!" The voice of Major Armstrong resounded through the entire HQ... I heard him coming in my direction, and... I made a mad dash for the door. The Colonel caught me running and asked,**

**"Where are you going, Tigerwing?" I turned and looked at him, and sweat-dropped.**

**"Um.. Nowhere?" I replied. Major Armstrong walked over and exclaimed,**

**"There you are! Let us hurry through the dark alleys and pass the mysterious houses!"**

**I could almost cry.**

**"Good luck, Tigerwing!"**

**the Colonel shouted, as the Major and I were leaving.**

**"Thanks!" I shouted, adding, 'I'll need it...', silently. He practically dragged me all the way to the address. Oh, the address led to a hotel that the Fullmetal Alchemist was staying in. We eventually reached our destination, and I entered the hotel. The hotel owner greeted me with a friendly hello.**

**Major led me towards the room the the Fullmetal Alchemist was staying in, and I entered it. When I entered, I could see a small boy, who looked about my age. (I'm 15, in case you're wondering.) He had golden hair and eyes, just like me, and he looked at me, questioningly.**

**"Ah, Major! It's nice to see you." the boy said, to Major. Major replied,**

**"It's wonderful to see you as well, Edward."**

**"Oh, that's right! Hello! Colonel Mustang told me to stay with you." I said, looking a little embarrassed. The boy sighed,**

**"So, the Colonel decides to dump more things to do on me? Like to take care of a little girl?" I instantly glared at him.**

**"Don't call me little! Damn it!" I shouted.**

**He looked a little surprised, but then he smiled.**

**"Anyways, I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. You are..?" he asked, smiling. I said,**

**"I'm Sora Kogane, the Tigerwing Alchemist! Nice to meet you!"**

**Edward nodded, taking out his hand and offering a handshake. I immediately reached out and grabbed his hand, but instead of shaking it, I tossed him across the room.**

**"That's for calling me little!" I screamed. Major Armstrong laughed and exclaimed with that powerful voice of his,**

**"I'll leave you two to get to know each other!" And with that, he was gone. Edward got up, and screamed back,**

**"Well, it's true!" I scowled and gritted my teeth.  
"Anyway, you should meet everyone who lives here before throwing people! Al! Get over here! We have a guest!" he shouted, calling over someone. I wondered who it could have been. That's when I heard the noises of something hollow and metallic walk over to us. I perked my ears up, but not too much, as I didn't know if I could trust this boy yet. I had put the hood of my coat on before entering, as I didn't want to give away my chimera identity. The only ones who knew about it were Tsugoke, Colonel Mustang, Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and a few others. Anyway, the noises gradually increased as it got closer and closer. I finally found the source of the noise. It came from a hollow suit of armor... That walked! I was confused. The Colonel never said anything about this.**

**"That suit of armor is empty, isn't it?" I asked Ed. He seemed really surprised.**

**"How did you-?" he started. I replied,**

**"Well, from hearing those noises, it's sort of easy to tell.." The suit of armor walked over to me. "Hello there! You're really impressive! I never would have thought you'd be able to guess, unless we told you! Anyways, you must be the guest that my brother was talking about. I'm Al! Edward's younger brother." the suit of armor spoke. He had such a childish voice. **

**"Well, my name is Sora Kogane, the Tigerwing Alchemist. I came under the orders of Colonel Mustang. Nice to meet you, Al." I said, bringing out my hand for a handshake. Al greeted me with one and told me to sit down on the couch. I nodded, taking the offer. Ed just stood there, dumbfounded.**

**"Um.. Ed? Do you mind telling me about what happened to Al?" I asked, looking at him. He sighed and thought for a little bit. There was an odd silence, until Ed broke it with one word.**

**"Fine." He walked over by me and sat down on the couch, looking at me intensely.  
"You have to promise not to tell anyone. The only people who know about this are my brother and I, Lieutenant Hawkeye, Colonel Mustang, and a few others in the military. We can all trust them though. Can I trust you?" Ed asked, his eyes filled with a determined look. I nodded, giving him a look of determination also. Ed looked at Al, as if for approval, and Al nodded.**

**"Alright, this all happened when our mother died. She died from an unknown disease and depression, from after our father left the house to go somewhere. He never came back. We wanted to see her smile again...**

**"So, we trained with a lady, who became our teacher, and the thing we trained in was alchemy. Our father was a brilliant alchemist, so he always had these thick books at home. Al and I would read them. One time, we came across 'human transmutation'. I'm sure you've heard of it," he said, looking at me. I nodded.**

**"Alchemy's greatest taboo, right?" I replied. He nodded and continued,**

**"We tried it. We tried to bring our mother back to life. We failed, and at what cost? My brother's entire body, and my left leg. In order to bond Al's soul to that armor, I sacrificed my right arm."  
He swallowed, and Al looked down onto the floor. Silence filled the room once again, and this time it was a cold, and unsettling silence. I spoke with a small voice,**

**"You two must have been through a lot." Just then, there was a knock on the door.**

**"I'll go get it, brother!" Al declared, and he walked over to the door. Major Armstrong was at the door.**

**"Edward, Sora, the Colonel wants to see you. I have to be your escort since Tsugoke and Scar are still on the loose." he whispered.  
That's right! I forgot about Scar! Well, he's this Ishbalan survivor of the Ishbalan Massacre, and he's full of revenge. He wants to get rid of all of the State Alchemists, since they were the main cause so many Ishbalans died. He's known as Scar, for the large x-shaped scar on his face. You want to know why there was a massacre? I'll tell you later! Now, isn't the time! Ed looked at me and I shrugged. We got our things and started to walk to the HQ. Al came along too. When we finally reached the HQ, after a long walk of listening to Major's very boring stories, Ed sighed, with a look of disgust on his face.**

**"I hate coming here to see the Colonel.." he muttered. I sighed and replied,**

**"We had better go anyway. He's going to get pissed off, you know." He sighed again and nodded. We started up the stairs and entered the large building. We nodded at a few soldiers who walked past, but my eyes saw a look of guilt on one of their faces. If I remember correctly, his name was Frank Archer. I looked at him as we walked past with a stare, but turned my attention to the Colonel's door.**

**MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MOE (Jap for 'cuteness') MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW**

So.. How was it? It was bad wasn't it? I apologize that this story sucks, and I also apologize for not updating my Huntik story. I have had writer's block for sometime now, and with a hurricane on the way, I'm having even more trouble. *sigh* I guess I'll try to continue that, but for now, cope with this stupid story.

Please review~

Sora: It'll make me happy~

Ed: And make us taller!

Cat the Author: Please just review and ignore those two idiots.


	2. Chapter 2 Part 1: Truths Revealed

Whee~~~~~~ So I'm back with this story~ Yay~ XD I'm soo tired! It's 12: 18 A.M. where I live. I don't usually sleep so late, so my body isn't used to it~ T^T So... Enjoy the chapter while I try hard not to fall asleep while working on other stories~ TT^TT ha ha...

...

**"Colonel Mustang! I've brought the Elric Brothers and the Tigerwing Alchemist." Major Armstrong said, while knocking on the door.  
"You may come in." the Colonel replied. The Major nodded and he opened the door for us to get in.  
"Colonel! Get to the point!" Ed shouted, sitting on the couch. I nodded.  
"Colonel, why did you bring us here, again?" I asked, sitting next to Ed on the couch. He seemed uncomfortable, but I ignored it. Ed sighed,  
"So, what's our mission this time?"  
"There's been some kind of revolt in Janico Town. I need you three to head out immediately."  
"A revolt?"  
"Yes. A group of outlaws are rampaging in the central area of the town. Our military has been having trouble since they were armed and have claimed to be citizens."  
"Could I bring Matsumi, my friend, with me? She's pretty good at gun handling." I asked with a smile.  
The Colonel sighed and then said,  
"Just take care of her." I smiled like this- : and went back out to go to the phone and called Matsumi.  
"Hey, Matsumi! I've got a mission that you can help out with!" I spoke into the telephone receiver.  
"Oh, Hey!"  
"So, are you gonna help out? It's in Janico Town."  
"Of course! Where and when should we meet?"  
"How about we meet at the West Station in Central, at 12:00 P.M.?"  
"Alright, then! See you then! :"  
"Okay, 'bye!" I put the hearing part of the phone away, (it's the old type of phone.) and started to walk over to the Colonel's office to meet back with the others. "Ed, Al! We're going to go to the West Station and shop for a little bit! You two better come with me!" Sora shouted, while coming into the room. Ed and Al looked at each other with faces as if they wanted to run away. "You're coming whether you like it or not!" I yelled, dragging them away. I said, "Goodbye, Colonel!" He replied with a wave at the two brothers and said, "Goodbye, Fullmetal! Have fun SHOPPING." He laughed before getting back to his work since Lieutenant Hawkeye was coming into the room. I spoke my greeting to her before dragging the boys into the hallway and out the door. Major came along since Scar was still on the run.  
"We have to meet my friend at 12:00 so, I at least want to be there by 11:45! If we get there any later, I'm going to pummel you two!" I yelled, my eyes blazing. Ed and Al looked up at me with tired and fearful eyes. "She acts kind of like Sensei..." Ed had whispered to Al.  
"M-hm.." Al replied. His voice was shaky. We soon arrived at West Station, and it was 11:30.  
"Okay, we have 30 minutes to buy and look at stores. Let's start at that manga store!" Sora yelled, charging over to the special manga store. Ed and Al followed, with an excited Major.  
"I remember this store! I used to come here and buy books when I was younger." he said, crying tears of joy. I smiled while looking around, searching for any cat manga books. I found a couple and bought them all, since I had earned a lot of money. (I can't really tell you how much I earned since I don't like math) So, when I finished buying stuff here, it was 11:45.  
"Ed! Al! Finish shopping and let's go to the final store! It's a book store! I've got a couple of alchemical books I want to read again." I shouted at them. They nodded and quickly got the books they were buying and walked out of the store. When we reached the store, it was unfortunately closed.  
"Noo! I wanted those books.." I cried. My face looked like this- T^T So, we ended up going back to the station. That's when I saw Matsumi.  
"Oii! Matsumi!"  
"Ohh! SORA!"  
Matsumi comes running to me and jumps on me.  
"GAACK! Y-You're.. Choking... M-me...!" I managed to say.  
Matsumi was pretty tall for her age. She always put her black long hair in a pony-tail. She was wearing a black tank top, and blue skinny jeans. "Why don't you ever put your shiny hair down? You'll look nice like that!" I said, after she got off me.  
"Hmm... Secret~ Maybe I'll tell you...someday! OH YEAH! GUESS WHAT, GUESS WHAT!"  
"What?!"  
"I got the new SA80, T.A.R 21, and XM8! XDDDD"  
Matsumi took them all out, and waved them around. Ed and Al looked pretty surprised.  
"Really? Let me borrow them once in awhile! XD I got the new Dragoon Gunblade, and this shiny, black 64-2000. They're both snipers/swords." I replied.  
"Ohh! I HEARD OF THAT! Oh... who are these?"  
Matsumi pointed at Ed and Al, finally noticing them.  
"They're friends I met recently. They're also in the military. The small one's a State Alchemist like me, and he's a pretty famous one around here. His name is Edward, but you can call him Shortie! The bigger one is Shortie's little brother, Alphonse. You can just call him Al though. He's an alchemist, but not in the military."  
"Heey Soranoanoanaaa..." Matsumi puts her hand on Sora's head, and started to shake her head.  
"You shouldn't call people 'Shortie' it's not nice! :I"  
Matsumi turns to Ed, and Al.  
"Hi! My name is Matsumi. Sorry for her rudeness :)"  
Ed seemed ready to kill me, so I just smoothly ran away~ He chased after me though~ Al held out his hand and said,  
"It's nice to meet you."  
Matsumi looked at him smiling, then suddenly laughed out loud. She high fived his hand in return and said,  
"Don't hafta be so polite x)" Al looked somewhat confused, but just nodded. Major Armstrong bowed at Matsumi and said,  
"Hello there, young lady! My name is Alex Louis Armstrong of the Armstrong family, and I am also a Major in the military. I am also the Armstrong Alchemist, with artistic alchemy that is passed down the generations in my family." Matsumi looked very confused when he started on with all the Armstrong stuff.  
"I see. Hello Armstrong person :)! I'm Matsumi xD" Matsumi showed her thumbs up sign. I slowly came back with Ed hot on my tail.  
"Haha~ Shortie's very angry now~" I laughed. Major Armstrong said,  
"Now, now, Edward! We're going to miss the train!" Ed sighed,  
"Fine.. But, you won't get away with this, Sora!" Finally, we had boarded the train, after waiting so long to receive our tickets.  
"Soranora! :) Remember that Ruger Blackhawk Convertible you got me? You know the .45 acp one?"  
"Uum... Yeah... What about it?"  
"I gave it an 'upgrade' :) I brought it! I got my rose engraved on it :D"  
"Really? Let me see..."  
Matsumi took out the Blackhawk, that I bought for her, out of her pocket.  
"You really do love that rose, don't you?"  
"Uh-huh! :)... So, tell me what this 'mission' is about?"  
"Right, so apparently some outlaws, who are really citizens by the way, are revolting against the military in Janico town."  
"Wait...then why are they sending us? Can't they ask the soldiers of the military or something like that?"  
"The military doesn't want to hurt them. I guess since we can use alchemy to scare them, we don't really have to use force."  
"Oh.. I see...can't wait to scare them! +w+"  
"Yea.. I'm gonna sleep... Wake me up when the train stops, and make sure Ed doesn't try anything."  
Matsumi smiled warmly "Of course.. anything for you, my lady~ xD Haha. Alright, I'll wake you up when we arrive. :D"  
I lied down on the warm train seat and drifted off into a light sleep.**

**...**

**"Ed! Sit back down!" The loud voice of Mat-chan shouting rang through my ears.  
"Eh?" I ask, half-asleep.  
"Ah...! See what you made me do, Ed? I woke her up!" Mat-chan seemed to be yelling at Ed.  
"It's not my fault you have such a loud voice!" he shouted back.  
"What did you just say to me?!" Mat-chan replied in response. I rubbed my eyes, a little clueless.  
"What's going on, guys?" I ask, very sleepily. Before I could say or even see anything, I felt something on my arm, and immediately fell back asleep.**

**...**

**"Eh..? It really worked! She's been sleeping for a pretty long time..." another voice waking me up... It sounds like Ed this time.. I sit back up, rubbing my eyes, even more clueless this time.**  
**"I'm very confused...?" I say, yawning slightly.**  
**"Ah.. She woke up.. Kind of like a cat..." Al was whispering but, I could still hear him. I stretched and was fully awake this time.**  
**"Ah.. That was a nice nap... X3" I say. Ed seems to be smiling about something. "Shorty, is something funny?" I ask, a little confused.**  
**"Nothing... We're almost there anyway, so you should stay awake." he replied, smiling again. I just replied,**  
**"Umm.. Okay?"**  
**"Ed... You do realize you were kind of like this before, when we went to Lior?" Al said. Ed answered,**  
**"Hm..? Al, what are you talking about?" He seemed a little fidgety, but I ignored it since we arrived at our destination.**  
**"Janico Town Station! Janico Town Station!" the conductor shouted. It was our stop.**  
**"Come on, boys! It's time for us to leave." Mat-chan shouted. I nodded.**  
**"We should hurry and get off the train. Major? Are you all ready?" I asked him. He nodded and we got off the train, when we saw a few people staring at us with cold eyes. I looked at them questioningly, but then I saw a few kids running past. One of them shouted,**  
**"The outlaws! The outlaws!" I asked them,**  
**"Why are you shouting 'the outlaws'? Has something happened?" The kids answered, with a creaky voice as if they were about to cry,**  
**"They burned Faenric's house and he was still inside!" They pointed at a street that was filled with black smoke. Ed dashed over to the direction the kids were pointing at, with Al chasing after him. I sprinted over too, as we couldn't let a civilian die! Mat-chan had her gun ready and was also giving chase. It had been a horrifying view to see. The air was mostly filled with black smoke, and most of the house had been disintegrated except for the first floor. Ed and Al went in without hesitation. I looked around for the outlaws and saw a few men dressed in dark clothes. I decided to leave the 'rescue' to Ed and Al, and started to scare away the men. I clapped my hands together again, and placed my palms lightly onto the ground. I reconstructed the ground to make hand-like statue-thingies pop out of the ground and pick up the men. They seemed a bit surprised and bit back yelps. I rolled my eyes and just then, I heard one of the men shout,**  
**"What are you going to do, SHORTIE?" I instantly gave them the death glare and clapped my hands together again. They were quickly launched into the sky by two stone pillars that burst up as I smirked. Matsumi groaned and turned to face me.**  
**"Sora! Don't hurt them! Remember our mission!" I gave a quick nod and refocused myself. The men just huddled together away from me muttering gibberish, their faces white.**  
**"Sissies...At least they learned their lesson," I huffed. Matsumi simply rolled her eyes. Ed and Al have not yet come out, so I decided to dive in and look for them. Spreading out my wings, I leaped for the inferno.**  
**"Ed! Al! Where are you?" I shouted, trying to find some trace of them through the fiery flames. The smoke made me cough and my eyes watered. I persevered and scanned the dancing flames, being careful to avoid any of the burning debris. The searing heat licked at my skin as I made my way through the blaze. The heat was making me slightly dizzy, and I almost passed out. Just then, I saw a shadow that flickered in front of me, and because it was behind the flames, I could not tell who or what it was. Eventually, I passed out from the blitz and all I saw was darkness.**

...

Oh no~ Sora's in trouble! And who is that mysterious shadowy figure? You'll find out if you review~

UPDATE: Should I keep this story up? I'm not sure~ I'm starting to think no one seems to like it. T^T The first few chapters are boring, I know. Don't worry about that! The future chapters will be full of suspense and action (probably I think) as well as some sad scenes~ The ending of the story will really shock everyone~ So... Please! At least try it! I'm also trying to make this novel-like so some of the chapters will be short, others long, but there will definitely be a lot of chapters. Anyways... PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW~ T^T I'M DESPERATE! DX

-Cat the Author


	3. Chapter 2: Part 2 Chimera Secrets

A/N: Yay~ I've decided to keep this story up after two reviews. Since, I'll be updating twice today, there's more humor to go around! XD Here's the second chapter's second part. Enjoy!

**I woke up with my throat feeling like sandpaper and my head throbbing. I blinked blearily around and managed to croak out a hoarse,**  
**"Where am I?" Managing to sit up, I saw I was alone in an unfamiliar room. I heard faint shouting near the room getting closer. Edward practically ran into the room carrying some soup with Matsumi chasing closely behind.**  
**"She's my friend, pipsqueak!" She shouted.**  
**"Well, I saved her!" the golden haired alchemist bit back.**  
**"Can you guys please be quiet...?" I murmured wincing. They both froze and turned around. Matsumi ran over and started squeezing me. My ribs felt like they would snap. I let out a groan. Matsumi quickly let go and gave a sheepish grin. Then she exploded,**  
**"SORA! YOU IDIOT! Can't you take care of yourself?!"**  
**"Eh?" I replied, a little confused.**  
**"When you fainted from the heat in that burning building, I found you and saved you!" Ed said, a little annoyed. He set the soup down on a table by me.**  
**"You? Save me? What a joke." I replied, sighing. My head was still stinging and my vision was not as clear as it should be, but the injuries weren't as severe as I thought. A sudden silence made me look up. Ed was apparently very interested by his shoes at the floor and Matsumi was staring at the floor. Finally, Ed broke the silence,**  
**"You're a chimera huh?" I froze. Quickly shaking it off I tried to laugh my way out.**  
**"ME? HA. That's a good one!"**  
**Ed merely grumbled.**  
**"I know."**  
**I went silent. Then I began to throttle Matsumi demanding if she told him.**  
**"HOW THE HECK DOES HE KNOW?! IS IT CAUSE I'M SHORT?! WELL, I'M NOT SHORT! I'M PERFECTLY FINE. SEE?! FINE!" I screamed, hysterically laughing. Edward slowly started to creep towards the door, when I pounced and knocked him to the floor.**  
**"You're not going anywhere!" He started to flail and kick in a desperate attempt to flee from my wrath.**  
**"OI! WHATS-YOUR-FACE! MATTY OR WHATEVER! GETOFFAME! THE SHORTY HAS MENTAL ISSUES!" I growled and tackled him twisting his arm. I grinned evilly and a dark aura emanated from me.**  
**"Did you call me short..? PIPSQUEAK."**  
**Edward's temper snapped.**  
**"I AM NOT SHORT! I saved your sorry hide, midget!"**  
**I tossed him across the room and he hit the wall with a dull thud. Matsumi watched warily knowing that interfering was suicide. As the two alchemists brawled it out, Colonel Mustang walked in. Seeing the scene he sighed and barked,**  
**"Alright, alright. Everyone knows you guys are both beansprouts so shut up and be civilized beansprouts for once. We have more important matters than your height complexes." Ed glared while I cursed at him under my breath as the Colonel smirked.**  
**"Well? What did you come here for?" I asked, a little impatiently.**  
**"I need you four to go to Briggs. There's been reports of strange alchemy there, and also of someone assaulting the Briggs' soldiers." the Colonel replied, with a cool smirk.**  
**"Briggs? Again?!" Ed shouted, sounding a little angry.**  
**"Yes, Fullmetal, you have to go to Briggs. I need you to go talk to General Armstrong there." Roy answered, with a frown.**  
**"Al... Did you hear that..?" Ed asked, his face a little pale. Al nodded,**  
**"Maybe it's the stone..." He let the possibility hang in mid air.**  
**"Leave by tomorrow morning. Don't goof off Fullmetal," the Colonel said. Edward just snorted and scowled. The Colonel left and Ed was left dumbstruck.**  
**"Well, we have a new mission! Did you hear that, Mat-chan?" I asked, a smile spreading on my face. Matsumi nodded, and she prepared her guns, as did I. Ed decided to hit the hay, since it was relatively late, and started to walk towards his room. It was just then that I figured out where we were. We were at a hotel of some sort, and well, I couldn't figure out which city we were in... So, I decided to ignore it. So, as Ed was walking away, he noticed the soup and told me,**  
**"Make sure to drink that soup. It'll help you." I nodded and he retreated to his room, whereas Al just sat down on the couch, possibly thinking about how to prepare tomorrow's trip. After I finished preparing my guns, Mat-chan had started to pack thick clothes.**  
**"Soranoanoanaaa... You should pack some thick clothes too! It'll be cold in Briggs, since it's up north." she yelled at me. I sighed and nodded, packing up all the thick coats and clothes I could find that matched my size. That's when I tried to stifle a yawn, but Mat-chan noticed anyway and said,**  
**"You can go to sleep ahead of me. I'll pack the rest of the things for you."**  
**I looked at her a little surprised, but replied,**  
**"Really? Thanks a lot! Well, I'd better slink back into my room too. See you in the morning~" I walked over to my room and saw how clean it was and then I noticed that the bed was also cleanly a lined. I wrapped myself with the blanket after getting into the bed and slowly drifted off into a sleep again, closing my eyes and embracing the darkness...**

A/N: Cat the author asks for more reviews! There's another chapter after this one, though, so hold your keyboards and wait for some excitement~ There'll be action in the next one! :)


	4. Chapter 3: Ice, Snow, and Lightning!

A/N: Yo~ Cat the author here! I decided to update twice today~ So be nice~ :D

**"Soranoanoanaaa! Wakey wakey~ It's morning~" a loud, yet gentle voice rang through my ears. It was Mat-chan. I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I looked out the window and saw that it was very early in the morning, at about 5:30 a.m. Yawning, I rolled out of bed to get ready. I quickly changed, brushed my teeth, and grabbed my bag. Just before I left the room, I picked up my silver watch, as I couldn't forget that, now!**  
**"Do you have everything? Make sure you didn't forget anything!" Mat-chan asked me.**  
**"Yes, I have everything, I'm not a kid." I reply, sighing inwardly. Looking around I asked,**  
**"Where's the midget?" Matsumi sighed and replied,**  
**"They're at the station. You took too long -_-;"**  
**"What?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I say, a little taken back. I dashed out of the hotel, and started to sprint towards the station. When I got there, Fullmetal was smirking at me, while the younger sibling waved cheerfully at us.**  
**"You're late, beansprout," he said triumphantly. I scowled and got ready to deck him in the face when the train came.**  
**"All aboard!" the conductor yelled loudly over the train's whistle. We dashed on board and sat down in some empty seats. Not that there were many people on the train anyways, considering that it was 6 in the morning.**  
**"So, is everyone all set for the north?" I ask, looking at everyone's faces. "Brother, did you get your automail adjusted?" Alphonse asked. Ed only grunted in reply.**  
**"I'm taking that as a yes." I reply, and I look over to Mat-chan.**  
**"Did you pack all of the weapons? We're going to need them." She nods and I sigh in relief.**  
**"That means we're all accounted for!" I say, in relief.**  
**"Now, hand over those reports from the Colonel, Ed," I say.**  
**"I want to know what's happening in Briggs." Ed hands me some papers and I look at them, noticing that the alchemy appears to be lightning-based.**  
**"Celestial base, huh?" I mutter, and Ed looks at me.**  
**"Celestial base?" he asks, a confused look on his face.**  
**"You know how the Colonel's alchemy is all about fire? Well, apparently, the strange alchemy is apart of the celestial base." I answer, with a defiant tone. Matsumi assumes a thoughtful look.**

**Ed asks me, with determined eyes,** **"Isn't light part of a celestial base?"**

**I nod my head, and reply,**

**"Yes, light alchemy, the alchemy that I mainly use, is apart of the celestial base."**

**Ed considers this, then begins to speak even further.**

**"Doesn't that make storm base and celestial base similar? After all, lightning alchemy is sometimes apart of light alchemy, but is considered to be its own separate alchemy as well as apart of storm base."**

**I also took some time to think about this, then gave an honest answer.**

**"Well, you just said that lightning alchemy is considered to be apart of storm base, right? That would mean that lightning alchemy is generally accepted as apart of storm base rather than apart of light alchemy. Therefore, it would differentiate from celestial base. Of course, lightning alchemy is still sometimes used with light alchemy, despite what I just said."**

**Matsumi rolled her eyes and muttered,**

**"...Nerds..." while examining one of her guns. I yawned, tired from explaining, and watched the scenery as the train sped on. The rest of the ride was in tired silence, everyone simply content with just watching the scenery. By the time the train reached the station, everyone had already changed into warmer clothing.**  
**"I-It's still-ill c-c-cold with th-his jacket on," Edward muttered with his teeth chattering.**  
**"I think that's only because of your automail." I reply, sighing.**  
**"Are you sure you got your automail changed, Big Brother?" Al asked with a worried tone.**  
**"Um.. Yea.. I did.." Ed answered with a nervous tone. The four made their way to North City deciding to visit the fort later.**  
**"We should ask around, about the lightning alchemy." I said, trying to gather more information was sort of annoying, in a way. As the others agreed, we made our way into the town. Seeing some people by a store, I briskly walked up to them and tried to be friendly.**  
**"Hello, I'm ..uh..researching the strange events in North City and I've heard about some lightning?" They looked at each other then turned to me and said, "There's been random clusters of storms lately. Wild lightning has been appearing for about a while now." I smiled and thanked them, quickly taking out a small notepad and jotting some notes. As we made our way around, We heard similar things. Seeing a soldier I dashed towards him eager to find something new.**  
**"H-Hello. I'm researching the strange lightning that's been occurring. Do you know anything about it?" I asked hopefully. The soldier seemed to be debating whether to answer me or not when Edward stepped in.**  
**"We're from Central. State Alchemists." The soldier apologized hastily and began to tell us what he knew.**  
**"Ye-yea. There's been a lot of lightning for the past few months. Especially near the fort. It doesn't seem to be natural though." I looked at Mat-chan and she shrugged, saying,**  
**"We should go straight to the fort then, since it seems the most suspicious."**  
**I looked over at Ed who kept rubbing his arms and grumbling. I arched an eyebrow but chose to ignore his weirdness. The soldier offered to take us to the fort and we readily agreed. As the group trudged through the cold we heard ominous growls nearby. In the blizzard we couldn't see what or who it was. The soldier seemed to be nervous.**  
**"Hey, Mr. Soldier, aren't there usually bears around the fort?" I asked him, a little worried.**  
**"Yea, Teacher told us she fought a bear here," Ed added. We stood still listening for any sounds. Besides the icy winds and our breathing, it seemed silent. The soldier seemed to relax somewhat when a rather large bear burst seemingly out of nowhere roaring. It leaped onto the soldier attempting to slash open his body. Screaming, he attempted to cover himself with his arms. Two more smaller bears had followed and surrounded our group.**  
**"Everyone! Prepare for battle!" I shouted, getting my gunblade out for usage. I could finally use it. The smaller bears seemed to have their own way of battle. They would attack and switch opponents. It was very confusing at some all the chaos, we managed to scare off the two smaller bears, but the larger one remained, still roaring ferociously.**  
**"Man, that bear just doesn't know when to give up!" I yell, aiming my gunblade at it. I fired a few shots aiming for its head, but it was very fast. Ed managed to hit the bear with alchemy surprising it. When I saw this, it gave me a clear shot. I was about to shoot another bullet, when a large spark flashed between us and the bear. The shocked bear ran off grunting. The soldier groaned, his left arm crusted with blood.**  
**"Are you alright, Mr. Soldier?" I ask, bending down to help him.**  
**"We should get him to the fort. Are we near the fort Mr. Soldier?" He managed to grunt a vague yes. I helped him to his feet and allowed him to lean on my shoulder.**  
**"We should start walking now. The weather looks like it'll change." I tell the group. Mat-chan nods, and the two brothers start to walk slowly towards the fort. As we neared the front of the fort we heard an all too familiar voice shout,**  
**"FIRE." We jumped as a wave of bullets hit the snow in front of us.**  
**"What are you doing back here, Fullmetal?" The General barked.**  
**"We're here on orders from Colonel Mustang! We're on a mission to research the strange form of alchemy, and we've heard from this soldier here that the alchemy has been striking around here." Ed shouted back, a little annoyed at the fact that she fired anyway. She seemed to be deciding whether to shoot us in the face or let us in the fort. Eventually, she ordered the gate to be raised and had us 'escorted' in. The injured soldier was taken elsewhere and we were led to a large room.**  
**"So, did the Colonel send anything for me?" the General asked, eyeing us suspiciously.**  
**"Well, no," Ed muttered. The General's facial expression hardened.**  
**"And you expect me to believe you?"**  
**"Well, yes.." Ed replied, anxiously.**  
**"We still don't know exactly what is causing the lightning, so please refrain from patrolling too frequently, as we don't want anyone to get hurt." I said. The General seemed to be annoyed that I had basically ordered HER around, but if she was she didn't say anything.**  
**"That was all we had to say, General. We'll be moving on now, searching the area for any traces of the possible alchemy." Mat-chan said, and we all started to leave the room. Ed just stared at us, looking as if he wanted to ask us if we were just brain dead.**  
**"What? I just don't want any unnecessary sacrifices, that's all." I tell him. He just grumbled and we all exited the fort.**  
**"Well, shouldn't we find a place to stay? I don't think the General will let us stay here," Al piped up.**  
**"I think I saw some sort of house on the way to the fort. We can probably take shelter there." Mat-chan replied, thinking hard about something.**  
**"Are you sure it wasn't just some random abandoned shack?" I asked.**  
**Matsumi shook her head.**  
**"Well it's worth a shot. Let's go check it out," I said cheerily,**  
**"After all, a lot of the townspeople were friendly."**  
**As we headed out the gate, we realized that the weather had turned sour while we were talking with the General.**  
**"Do you think we'll survive through this snowstorm?" I ask, a little disappointed.**  
**"The house isn't far off," Matsumi insisted. After pushing through the storm we saw a house with smoke in the chimney.**  
**"There it is!" We all cheered. Ed dashed to the door and started pounding on it. When no one answered, I figured it must be because the storm was so loud. Before I could say a word, Ed decided to bust the lock with alchemy.**  
**"Brother!" Al whined.**  
**"You didn't have to break it!" At that moment, the door swung open and we were met with a rather pissed off looking guy.**  
**"Why'd you break my door?" He demanded.**  
**"A-Uh.." Ed stammered.**  
**"I'm very sorry for his rudeness. He will be punished severely." I said, punching Ed in the face.**  
**"We were wondering if we could stay here, we don't have anywhere to go," Al squeaked.**  
**"HEY! He's the one who didn't answer the door!" Ed protested. I punched him in the face another time.**  
**"I have a doorbell." The guy stared at Ed like he was stupid.**  
**"You idiot, Ed." I whispered in his ear.**  
**"Well you're going to freeze. Hurry up. Didn't you want to stay?" the guy said rolling his eyes. I nodded and started to walk inside, dragging Ed on the ground with me. We all cheered up with the warmth of a fire and sat quietly. Ed was just knocked out.**  
**"Do you guys want beds, or are you going to sleep on the floor?" the guy asked us. We all lept up and followed the guy up the stairs. He led us to some rooms and told us to decide on who gets which room by ourselves.**  
**"Talk about rude. He's like the Colonel." Ed muttered.**  
**"You should be happy he let us stay at all with you breaking his door and all," I retorted. Ed shut up and grumbled under his breath. I dashed around to find a comfy room to stay in for the night. It was late and I wanted to get up early to research more about the strange alchemy. The next morning, I got up and yawned. For a moment, I had forgotten where I was. As I was sitting up I heard a light knock at my door. When I opened it the guy stood there.**  
**"Are you hungry?" he asked.**  
**"A little, By the way, I never got your name. My name is Sora Ogonno, and it is very nice of you to let my group and I stay here." I answered.**  
**"Lucien Stormfast. Come downstairs when you're ready." Lucien replied, walking down the stairs.**  
**"Wait! Do you mind if I call you Stormy, instead?" I ask, with my head poking out into the hallway. He looked back up at me and nodded, before heading downstairs again. After I changed my clothes, I went to wake up Shortie and Mat-chan. I walked up to Shortie's room and knocked loudly on the door.**  
**"Hey, Shrimp! Wake up! Breakfast is waiting downstairs!" I shout loudly by the door. It swung open and I saw a slightly angry Ed.**  
**"What did you call me?" he asked, with a death glare.**  
**"Oh, you're up. Be downstairs in 5 minutes." I reply, not answering his question. As I turned to leave and walk up Mat-chan, he shouts from his door,**  
**"Answer my question, pipsqueak!" I turn around and enter his room, before beating the heck out of him. Then, I placidly walk away towards Mat-chan's room. She was already awake from all the fuss Ed was making.**  
**"It's too loud to sleep..." she says. I laugh and tell her to come downstairs ASAP. Then, I looked around for Alphonse.**  
**"Al? Where are you? Breakfast is ready for us." I ask, searching around for him. I was unable to find him until I saw that he was downstairs sitting on the couch, I smelled something yummy. The smell of eggs, bacon, and beef stew wafted towards me. I popped into what I assumed was the kitchen and saw Stormy stirring something over the stove.**  
**"Smells yummy!~ :D" I smiled.**  
**"Hm." He murmured in reply.**  
**"Oi! I'm hungry!" I heard Ed yell. I smacked him on the top of his head.**  
**"Stop being rude, midget." Ed scowled and plopped down next to Al on the couch.**  
**"Where's Mat-chan?" I ask him, and Ed just shrugs. Matsumi came down the stairs yawning and glaring at Ed.**  
**"Are you all going to sit like fools or eat?" Stormy said crossing his arms. We all jumped up and walked to the dining room. Over breakfast, I began planning what to do today. We still hadn't found out much about the alchemy. Alphonse sitting with us, said,**  
**"Should we call the Colonel?" Ed shook his head while stuffing his face. I sighed, facepalming. Then I realized that Al not eating might be suspicious to someone who didn't know us. Then again, Stormy hadn't said anything. He probably thought Al wasn't much of an eater or something.**  
**"I'm going out," Stormy said getting up. He pulled on a fur lined coat.**  
**"We'd also like to go out. Ed, you should stay here though. We still need someone to watch the house." I said, bluntly. Ed looked at me like I was crazy and then said,**  
**"Why does it have to be me?!" I looked at him and sighed.**  
**"We all know you lied about reinforcing your automail! I don't want you to get frostbite." I reply with an annoyed look. Just then a fluffy something hit me in the face. I caught it and gave a confused look. It was a fluffy jacket.**  
**"Wear it. You'll be cold," Stormy said while walking out. There were 2 so I assumed one was for Mat-chan. I put one on, and threw the other at Mat-chan.**  
**"Let's hurry and head out. The lightning alchemist ain't going to wait for us." I say, impatiently. Ed just grinded his teeth and sat down on the couch and Mat-chan nodded. Alphonse went outside first and then Mat-chan and I went out. Before heading out the door though, I said,**  
**"Ed! Don't explode the whole house now! I'll get pissed off at you if you do!" He scowled and nodded waving back at me. We finally went outside, and I could tell that the weather would be fine today. We did a quick search of the town and patrolled around the fort. As we were walking the air was crisp and clear. We tried to stay a bit away from the fort to avoid getting blown up by a certain general.**  
**"We should keep an eye out for any strange activity.." I say, looking around. "Maybe they're not here today," Al squeaked.**  
**"Maybe. Or, maybe they've spotted us and are hiding." I replied. Just then I hear something weird off in the distance, something like a tree snapping. Or maybe more like crackling. As I do a quick scan around, my eyes spot some lightning off in the distance. We all dash towards the source, which was a long way off. When we got there, I saw a figure moving off in the distance. From how far it was I couldn't tell if it was a person or an animal so I shrugged it off.**  
**"Oh...We got here too late," Al stated. I frowned but then shook it off and announced,**  
**"Well, we couldn't find the source but let's investigate anyways. Maybe whatever causes the lightning comes here often." Mat-chan shook her head.**  
**"That can't be right. The soldier said the lightning occurred randomly." The nagging suspicion that the figure from earlier might have been the lightning alchemist kept bothering me. After a fruitless search, I was certain that we had scared the alchemist off and that they wouldn't be coming back out anytime soon. We all returned home, tired from all the walking. When I went inside only Ed was scowling on the couch.**  
**"Is Stormy back yet?" I asked.**  
**"No," he grumbled. As the others came in, I decided to go over all the info we had. Sitting around the fire, I spread the Colonel's reports and my notes onto the table.**  
**"From what the Colonel has written here, the lightning usually appears around this time." I say, trying to figure out what could have happened today. Just then I heard the door open and turned around. Stormy had just walked in scowling. There was a cut on his face and he immediately went upstairs. I had a very confused look on my face, and the rest of my group also wore the same look.**  
**"He probably got into a fight, that bastard," Ed laughed. I punched Ed again and said,**  
**"Stop being rude." Unfortunately, when he tried to get up, he tripped and knocked over our notes.**  
**"Ed, you idiot!" Mat-chan yells at him. She starts to pick up the notes, and I noticed that some of the notes looked odd upside down.**  
**"Hey, the papers look like a cat! :3" I said grinning. As we cleaned up the papers, I heard Stormy coming down the stairs. I tried to clean the papers up faster until I heard,**  
**"What are you guys doing?" I hastily swept up all the papers and grinned nervously.**  
**"Uh...nothing! We just dropped some papers." Stormy shrugged and then said,**  
**"Well you missed one. Here I'll g-" Alphonse squeaked and grabbed the paper quickly off the floor. Giving us a weird look, Stormy shrugged.**  
**"Um, okay? I'll just be in the kitchen." When he left, I sighed in relief. We weren't sure of what he thought of state alchemists. We are called the dogs of the military. It was still bright out so we decided to walk to town to use a telephone to call the Colonel. We walked into a general store and I asked to use their telephone.**  
**"...Hello? Please state your name and reason for calling." I perked up at the answer and immediately replied and asked to be connected to the Colonel. I tapped my foot and hummed softly waiting for the line to connect.**  
**"Tigerwing? What have you found out?"**  
**"That the lightning has been occurring for a while now and was only just recently reported. The majority of the lightning occurs near the fort, however, the culprit has not yet been found."**  
**"Hmm, that is a problem..."**  
**"Is something the matter, Colonel?"**  
**"Yes. The General threatened to kill me if I didn't find the cause. Soldiers are getting jittery."**  
**"And I'm worried because..?"**  
**"Don't talk back to a higher ranking officer, Tigerwing. Just hurry up."**  
**"Right, right... Goodbye, Colonel."**  
**I hung up and thanked the storekeeper. As all of us were walking back to the house I said,**  
**"Okay guys. We don't have much time since the Colonel was whining that the General would have his sorry hide if we can't find the lightning alchemist." Ed snorted.**  
**"Why would we want to help him?"**  
**"I don't know... Though, I think that perhaps the lightning alchemist knows something about the philosopher's stone.." I replied, with apathy. Ed scowled and sighed,**  
**"That means we might be a step closer to our goal, Al." Alphonse nodded and I looked at them questionably, but chose not to push them.**  
**"We should hurry and get back to investigating." Mat-chan says. I nod and we start to walk back to Stormy's house so that we can think of a strategy. We didn't know anything, except for the fact that it was definitely lightning alchemy and that it was by the fort. When we went inside, the house was quiet.**  
**"Hello?" I called. Curious, I looked around and came to the door that was his study. Usually, the door to the study was locked, but today it opened with ease. Stormy had a couple books open and was scribbling notes or a diagram. From where I was standing, I couldn't see.**  
**"Uh.."**  
**Unsure of what to say, I just stood there. Stormy whipped around after hearing me. He took off a pair of glasses and put away all of his papers.**  
**"Do you need anything?" he asked.**  
**"No, I was just looking for you," I replied.**  
**"Well then, just so you know, this room is off limits. Please don't come in here again," he sighed. I nodded and decided to go to my room.**  
**"Oi, what was that about?" asked Ed.**  
**"Nothing.. He just told me not to go to his study again. He was writing some notes down though. I couldn't exactly see what he was writing, but maybe he has some connection to the lightning alchemy?" I say, thoughtfully.**  
**"Psh. That guy was probably doing something lame like writing books or something. Like that bastard could be smart enough to do alchemy," Ed responded. I punched him again and shouted,**  
**"Don't be rude!" He grumbled and muttered,**  
**"Fine. If you're so interested let's go see what he was doing." I rolled my eyes.**  
**"He probably locked the door, midget," I retorted. Ed did an evil grin while wiggling his fingers. I facepalmed. Was he going to try and bust the door again? He dashed downstairs and I ran after, worried over what he might break. Downstairs, I saw Stormy leaving to go buy groceries. Ed was already at the door of his study, examining it.**  
**"Oi. What the heck? There's a keyhole, but there's this weird seal above it. Isn't it the symbol for lead and Saturn? Anyways, it's weird." I whacked Ed's head and yelled at him for trying to bust the door.**  
**"Hey! You're the one who brought it up anyways!" Ed yelled. Due to the ruckus, Mat-chan and Alphonse had come over as well. After quickly explaining what had happened, we all were huddled by the door.**  
**"This symbol is really hard to understand..." Mat-chan said, staring at it.**  
**"Maybe it relates to alchemy.. I'm going to head over to the town's library to look for some books on alchemy, okay? You guys stay put." I say, thinking about all the possibilities. As I walked to the library, I traced the symbol on my hand over and over so I wouldn't forget it. At the library, I briskly skimmed through the alchemy section. In a few minutes, I managed to get some information on special alchemy bases and one or two transmutation circles on storm-base alchemy. Thumbing through the books, I furrowed my brow.**  
**'This library doesn't have enough information on the bases... I might need to ask the Colonel to mail me some books from Central...' I thought, slowly getting more aggravated. Dashing to the library's public phone, I almost tripped, ignoring a librarian scolding me for running. As I approached the phone, I noticed that there was another man using the phone. So, I decided to wait for him to finish speaking on the phone. I waited impatiently, tapping my foot. When he finally got off the phone and passed by me, I thought he looked a little familiar, but shrugged off the nagging feeling. I had more important business to do. I dialed the number and waited another few minutes for the Colonel to answer.**  
**"Hello?" a somewhat deep voice answered and I replied,**  
**"This is Tigerwing, again. I need to ask you a favor."**  
**"A favor? From you? Ha... That's a funny joke."**  
**"No, seriously, I need you to mail me some books on storm based alchemy. It'll help alot with the investigation."**  
**"Alright. I'll mail you all of the books possible. I'll send it to a soldier in North City. He works at the Floral Shop there. You should be able to get them by tomorrow morning."**  
**"Thank you, Colonel. Goodbye now." I hung up the phone, and sighed a sigh of relief. I might be able to close this case, once and for all. As I borrowed more of the books from the library there, I started to notice that some of the pages were ripped out. They were ripped out cleanly, leaving behind no trace, except that the pages were numbered.**  
**"It seems that pages 10-20 are missing.. It can't have been a printing error, since there are too little pages for the book cover to seem right..." I muttered, deep in thought, that I forgot where I was. I had started to walk down the street as I was reading the book, and accidentally walked into a wall. I grumbled under my breath and decided to put away the book and read more at the house. I finally returned, to find that everyone except Alphonse had decided to get some sleep. It was very late, so I understood that they must be tired.**  
**"Did Stormy come back yet?" I asked Alphonse.**  
**"No...Why?" he questioned.**  
**"It's just that he's a little suspicious... He goes out too much for too long..." I reply. Outside the window, I spotted flashes and heard ominous noises from somewhere near.**  
**"Al! You stay here. I have to get some air." I tell him, grabbing a coat. He nods and waits on the couch. I hurry outside and look around for the source of the flashes and bangs. Behind me, I heard a twig snap. Turning around, I saw no other than Ed.**  
**"What the heck are you doing here, shrimp?" I ask, a little disappointed. "Following you obviously," he snorted.**  
**"Well, you better not slow me down!" I snapped. He gave me the death glare again, but I ignored him.**  
**"We can't be blundering about. Stay on your guard! That lightning alchemist could be around." I shout, looking around. I saw a dark figure in the distance bending over on the ground. Quickly running over, I tried to see who it was.**  
**"Ed! Over here!" I shouted at him. The figure quickly snapped its fingers, creating a light shower of sparks. I block my eyes, still trying to look at who it was. Ed, his automail changed with alchemy to make it sharp, dashed over and slashed at the figure. The figure was quick, but not quick enough in their current state to avoid Ed's attack. Blood spurted from the wound, and the flare from earlier had by now vanished and I could see again. Using special alchemy, I created an explosion similar to the sparks that the figure created, to blind the figure. Then, I moved in to attack. I aimed a punch for the figure, but it moved away and I hit air. When I looked up at the figure, I saw that it resembled a man, but I wasn't sure of whether or not to attack more. Using pinpoint aiming, the figure managed to hit Ed's automail arm with its alchemy. The electricity arched through the metal limb and blew a couple fuses.**  
**"Ed! Are you okay?" I ask, trying to attack the enemy successfully.**  
**"I don't think I'll be able to move my automail after this fight!" he answers, also trying to hit the enemy. I grimace and hope that his automail lasts the fight. The enemy tries to create another flare explosion, probably to try and blind me again. Knowing this, I quickly run behind the figure, and grabs its arms, holding tight.**  
**"That trick won't work on me twice!" I tell it. Using their free hands, the person managed to create a small bolt of lightning. It was close enough to make me let go, but surprisingly, I received no injury. The person darted away, trying to outrun us.**  
**"Hey! Don't run! We just want to ask you something! We won't hurt you if you just stopped running!" I shouted. Ed tried to clap his hands together to use his alchemy, but his automail wouldn't respond.**  
**"Ed! I want you to go back to the cabin!" I shouted at him, still trying to chase after the suspect.**  
**"Who made you the leader?!" he shouted back.**  
**"I'm not done with this fight!" I clap my hands together to transmute a hand from the ground that flings Ed towards the cabin.**  
**Sorry if I accidentally hurt you, Ed!, I thought.**  
**I chase after the suspect trying not to lose speed. The suspect darted back and forth, and suddenly disappeared. I skid to a stop, and try to find the figure in the snow. I had not noticed that the snow had turned into a rapid blizzard, making it impossible to find anyone. I decided to turn back and try to find my way to the cabin. After stumbling around for a while I managed to find the cabin. My hand shaking from the cold, I fumbled with the doorknob, my breath freezing before it left my body. When I looked up, I noticed a small hole in the roof that had been recently patched up.**  
**"-.-lll"**  
**I think for a little, and figured that Ed must have hit the roof instead. I eventually got through the door and I sat on the couch next to Al, who seemed to be relieved to see me.**  
**"Sora! You're finally back!" he exclaimed, hugging me. I coughed and said,**  
**"Al, you're crushing me..." I heard someone sneeze and looked up from my oh-so-gentle hug from Al. It was Stormy getting a tissue.**  
**"Are you sick?" I asked, tilting my head. The response I got was a,**  
**"Hmn." Stormy went into his study and shut the door. To break the silence, Al turned to me and asked,**  
**"So what happened outside? Big brother crashed through the roof earlier. Is that why Stormy's mad?" I facepalmed.**  
**Couldn't that idiot have used alchemy to land safely?**  
**"No, Ed's always an idiot," I replied. Suddenly, Ed came running down the stairs yelling,**  
**"OI! WHY'D YA LAUNCH ME OFF LIKE THAT?!" I looked at him with tired eyes and reply,**  
**"Because you're useless without your alchemy. :I" Ed fumed while Al patted him on the back.**  
**Out of sympathy, no doubt. , I thought, trying to relax, when I heard Mat-chan's loud voice.**  
**"SORANORANORANORA~" I look at the stairs and Mat-chan is there, sprinting over to me. I braced myself for the pain that was bound to come.. Just then, Stormy appears out of nowhere behind Mat-chan, and grabbing her collar.**  
**"No fighting in my house." He gave us all the death glare and we all huddled together, bowing our heads.**  
**"We're sorry.. " we reply.**  
**It would have been really scary if he hadn't sneezed right after we apologized. Ed tried to muffle his laughing, in fear of my wrath. Stormy just walked out rubbing his temples.**  
**"Ed, you're a very mean person, you know that?" I told him. He scowled, and I looked at the time. It was very late, so I decided to go sleep.**  
**"We should all go nap now. It's late." Mat-chan said, as if reading my mind. I looked around the room and saw that there were no arguments. I started to head towards my room, when I thought that I heard something outside again. I ignored it and just walked into my room, jumping onto the bed. I drifted off to sleep not thinking about much due to the cold.**

A/N: If you want more updates, please review!


	5. Chapter 4: Surprise Attack!

A/N: CTA is back, again, with a new update! This one's been updating almost everyday, right? XD Well, I've had alot of chapters in storage for awhile, so this story'll be updating for quite a bit. My stored chapters are running out, though, so I'll have to work hard! Wish me luck, everyone!

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**The next morning, I got slowly out of bed and shuffled to the others' rooms to wake them up. I then managed to stumble downstairs with the others following, equally sleepy. When we walked into the dining room, Stormy was already sitting down and drinking tea. Bandages covered his arms and various areas of his face. He looked really pissed and didn't say anything.  
"Someone got off on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Or life apparently," Ed mumbled.  
I smacked him on the head and walked over to the couch. I didn't really feel like eating. Dozing in front of the fireplace, I hugged my knees, when I felt a small tap on my shoulder. Al was offering me a mug of tea, which I gratefully accepted. Sipping quietly, I took out my small alchemy notebook, scribbling me beating up Ed. Chuckling to myself, I took another sip of tea. When the others came by the fireplace as well, we started to discuss our day plans. We quickly decided that our first course of action should be to call Winry. Ed would be useless without his automail arm. The group quickly got changed and regrouped downstairs. Going into town, I walked to the library to get out of the cold and to use the phone. Using my State Alchemist status to get a private phone this time made me feel kinda guilty, but I decided it was more convenient this way. I quickly dialed Winry and waited for the call to get through.  
"Hello? Rockbell residence."  
"Is this Winry Rockbell?"  
"Yes."  
"Hi, this is Sora Kogane, one of Edward's friends."  
"Sora? Why'd you call?"  
"Er..To put it bluntly...Ed broke his automail."**

**"W-Winry? Are you there?"**

**"..."**  
**"HE WHAT?! AFTER ALL THAT TIME I SPENT ON THAT AUTOMAIL, HE GOES FLINGING IT AROUND LIKE A HAMMER!"**  
**"W-Wait! Winry! Calm down, I'll punish him severely. Don't worry haha.."**  
**"He better get punished! Really! He goes and breaks it every time after saying he can take care of himself."**  
**"Well, er...Can you come over and fix it? We're kind of near North City."**  
**"I'll come by tomorrow, so meet me at the train station by noon okay?**  
**"Thanks Winry! Eheh. Sorry for bothering you..."**

**I hung up and sighed. Boy, Ed was going to really get it this time. I sighed and went over to the others.**  
**"Let's go back to the house. We have to tell Stormy that Winry's staying temporarily too."**  
**They all nodded and we trudged back to the house. A sneeze told us that he was on the sofa. Noticing us, he looked up.**  
**"Uh..Hey. Ed's mechanic is coming over tomorrow to fix his um...well...arm." I laughed nervously.**  
**Okay, wait.. HIS ARM?! I need to think of a better wording next time, I thought to myself.**  
**He stared at me mutely giving a look that clearly stated that I sounded less than normal. He turned around and began to doze off. I went up to my room and flopped down. It was so nice and quiet in here. No annoying midgets, no paperwork, and no evil people. Then, I just remembered that I had to go to the floral shop to get the alchemy books that I ordered from the colonel.**  
**"Guys, I'll be right back! I have to go get some books from someone."**  
**I tell the group downstairs. I start running towards North City, taking out a map to try and locate the Floral Shop. It was a few blocks away from the library, so I could find it with ease.**  
**"Hello? I'm here for the books from Colonel Mustang." I say, looking around in the shop, searching for the owner.**  
**I heard a bell ring, and I looked around and saw a young man in a wheelchair with his hand on a bell.**  
**"Oh, there you are! I ordered the alchemy books from the colonel. I'm Sora Ogonno, the Tigerwing Alchemist. Could I have your name?" I say, walking over to the man.**  
**He smiled, and as I got closer, I could see that he had blondish hair and was smoking a cigarette. He also had blue eyes, so I could tell that he was Amestrian.**  
**"Hey, the colonel never told me that the alchemist who was coming was this cute." the man says.**  
**"..." I didn't know how to reply to that.**  
**"How about we have lunch together?~"**  
**"...No.."**  
**"Please?"**  
**"..." I think about it briefly, then I reply,**  
**"No thank you. I'm not interested in a love life at the moment."**  
**"Oh come on, it'll be fun."**  
**"...Can I please just have my books?"**  
**"At least try it.."**  
**I smiled, a little annoyed.**  
**"Wow, you look cute like that!"**  
**I punched him with a lot of ferocity.**  
**"May I please have my books now?" I asked, getting ready for another punch if necessary.**  
**"Alright.. You win..." he replies, with a weak voice. He hands me some books, and I turn to leave when he shouts,**  
**"My name's Jean Havoc! Come back if you ever change your mind!"**  
**Yeah right.. As if I'll ever go back there..., I thought to myself.**  
**"Note to self: Don't ever go there alone..." I said. I finally returned to the cabin, a little pissed off. Even Ed seemed to be debating whether or not to annoy me. Huffing, I stomped upstairs with the books to read. Plopping down on the bed, I thumbed through one that looked interesting. Whether it was because the author died or weren't sure, the book didn't have any specific diagrams of lightning alchemy. I flipped through a couple books, jotting down notes in my notebook. Hearing a knock on my door, I looked up. The others stood in my doorway.**  
**"Did you find out anything, Sora?" Mat-chan asked.**  
**"Yup. Jean Havoc is the creeper at the flower shop," I muttered.**  
**She gave me a weird look and walked over to my bed. She leaned over my shoulder to see what I was doing.**  
**"Where'd you get all those books?" Al squeaked.**  
**"The Colonel," I replied.**  
**Spreading the documents and books on my bed, I motioned them over. We studied until our stomachs began to growl. Heading downstairs, I yawned. After all that running around and that reading, I felt a bit tired. I scarfed down dinner and trudged up the stairs. I had to sleep early so I could wait for Winry tomorrow at the train station. Pulling the covers over myself, I yawned. Sleep was a good thing, I decided before blacking out. In the morning I quickly got ready and ate breakfast without really paying attention to what I was eating. After lounging around the house for a while, our group decided to head for the train station a quarter before noon. If we went exactly at twelve, we might have kept her waiting. At the train station, all of us sat on the benches, waiting for Winry. At three past noon, a train rolled into the station. Winry, with her inhuman aim for Ed, had managed to conk him on the head with one of her wrenches.**  
**"Winry, you idiot! You coulda killed me!" Ed shouted at her. I sighed and placed a hand on his head saying,**  
**"There, there." Winry walked over and looked at Mat-chan and I.**  
**"And you are-?" she asked, looking a little confused.**  
**"Oh, I'm Sora, the girl you talked to on the phone!" I tell her.**  
**Mat-chan bows and replies,**  
**"I'm Matsumi Kioku. You can just call me Mat-chan though."**  
**"Hey, Winry! Don't ignore me!" Ed shouts, which resulted in him getting hit with another wrench.**  
**"Anyway, we should hurry and get to the cabin!" I said to the group. We all nodded and we started to walk back to the cabin. We reached it eventually, and I decided to tell Ed and Winry to stay in the cabin, since Mat-chan, Al, and I should go look for the lightning alchemist. Ed sighs and reluctantly agrees. We hurry and look around the area, searching for any chance of there being someone around. When I turned around, I saw crazy, random bolts of lightning appear. They weren't aimed properly, so I could easily dodge them.**  
**"Al! Mat-chan! Be careful! The alchemist seems to be losing control of their alchemy. We need to be on our guard, because the bolts can appear out of nowhere." I warn them.**  
**They nod and we back up into each other, our backs against one another.**  
**"I see something!" Al shouts, and he points at a shadow in the distance. That seemed to be the source of the bolts, and Mat-chan got out her guns.**  
**"I think my sniper should be able to reach that far." she says. I signal for her to shoot at the figure. From the way the figure reacted, I could tell that we hit it.**  
**"Let's move in!" I shout, charging straight for the figure. Al clapped his hands together to transmute a large hand that held the figure high up in the air.**  
**"Great job, Al!" I shout, and I signal for Mat-chan to try and fire another shot. We needed to weaken the target for us to be able to question it. The figure whipped out their other hand in an attempt to produce lightning but the bolts scattered. Growing frustrated, they had managed to produce a razor-edged windstorm. Grimacing as the wind lacerated my skin, I could tell the alchemy wouldn't last long if they couldn't even control the lightning alchemy. I signaled another shot from Matsumi. The bullet made its mark on the figure's stomach area. The wind weakened considerably, allowing me to focus better. More random bolts rained down, quickly going astray. The air smelled crisp and alive as the bolts snaked through the air.**  
**"Al! Get them! We want to catch them now . If we keep fighting there's a good chance they'll actually do real damage or pass out." Al nodded. Swiftly clapping his hands he managed to get a better hold of the alchemist with his giant transmuted hand. The figure struggled and managed to make a bolt strike the hand. It had manage to crack the hand, but just barely. They were stuck. I began to run over, Al and Mat-chan following.**  
**"Alright! You there, who are you, and why have you been using your lightning alchemy out here? You're spooking the townsfolk!" I shout.**  
**"Shut up. That's exactly why I was doing it by the fort!" the figure snapped.**  
**"Wait... That voice... Stormy?!" I exclaim, a little surprised.**  
**"Yea!" Stormy hissed. Al let out a squeak and released him before I could say anything. Ignoring us, he stomped off towards the cabin. We tried to catch up, but he just sent some sparks our way, not bothering to even aim properly.**  
**"What should we do? We just practically mauled our host!" I exclaimed, trying to figure out a way to get out of this mess. We watched Stormy stomping away from us, unsure of what to do. We all sweatdropped when he tripped. Twice. He just kicked a random tree in anger and then screamed in pain. At a loss for what to do, we stood in the snow, speechless, until Mat-chan blurted out,**  
**"Well, Stormy, we're very sorry! We didn't know that it was you..."**  
**Either he was ignoring us or didn't hear, since he walked off gripping his stomach in pain.**  
**"I think we should head back to the cabin..." Al said trying to lighten the awkward silence.**  
**"We should.." I headed back in silence, with the occasional cough. When we opened the door and walked to the living room, only Winry was there with Ed.**  
**"Yo, what's that guy's deal? He just walked in bleeding and glared at me," Ed asked us as we walked in.**  
**"Don't ask... It's a long story.." I replied. Stormy stomped into the room and slammed open a closet door. Grabbing some more bandages for smaller cuts he turned to leave.**  
**"Uh..W-wait!" I quickly said before he left. He stopped and turned around annoyed.**  
**"I want to say sorry...But I was assigned to find the cause of all the lightning. I'm from Central." He brushed me off and was going to leave until a screw hit him on the head.**  
**"Oi. She's trying to apologize. At least listen, jerk," Edward said. He growled and turned around.**  
**"What. Do. You. Want?" he bit out. Winry only busied herself with fixing Ed's arm.**  
**"Well, to put it simply, you have to come to Central with us," Mat-chan said.**  
**You were the one who shot him. Can't you be less demanding? I thought.**  
**"As if. Ch." We watched him stomp upstairs.**  
**"I think we're going to have to 'nicely ask' him to come with us." I said to the group, putting emphasis on the 'nicely'. We walked to town, without Ed, and went to the library. I made sure to go around the Floral Shop. At the library, I once again used my status and dialed the Colonel. After discussing for a while, I hung up and we all walked back to the cabin. The next day, I waited at the train station.**  
**"Tigerwing, you better have a good reason for calling me here," the Colonel grumbled.**  
**"I called to give you some good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" I replied, with a bitter tone.**  
**"Give me the bad news.."**  
**"One of your soldiers decided to play 'hooky' with me."**  
**"Who?"**  
**"Jean Havoc."**  
**"... Oh boy... You're going to complain about it, aren't you?"**  
**"Not just that, I might whack you later."**  
**"Never mind that, what's the good news?"**  
**"We found the cause."**  
**"What?! Seriously?!"**  
**"Yes."**  
**"Great! Now I can finally have that stupid general off my case.."**  
**"The cause was another alchemist."**  
**"Well, bring him in."**  
**"That's the problem, sir. He refuses to come with me."**  
**"...Then, tell him that he has to, according to the military."**  
**"...You better thank me for this later..."**  
**"I'm sorry, did I hear a small complaint in that sentence?"**  
**"Follow me, Colonel. I'll lead you to where the alchemist is."**  
**"Of course."**  
**I wanted to punch that man, but I held in my anger. Walking back to Stormy's house, I plotted how to catch the Colonel off guard later to punch him. At the cabin, I called Stormy to come downstairs.**  
**"What do you want?!" he growled. Unfortunately, he tripped on the stairs and landed with a thud at the bottom of the staircase.**  
**"Are you the lightning alchemist?" The Colonel asked ,crossing his arms. Stormy, sitting on the floor and rubbing his head, mumbled,**  
**"So what?" The Colonel smirked.**  
**"Well, by military law you have to come with us." Stormy glared at him, an obvious refusal.**  
**"And since you are not cooperating, I am obliged to do it by force."**  
**Taking advantage of Stormy sprawled on the floor, he quickly hit him on the head, knocking him out. We all sweat-dropped.**  
**"Well, hurry up and pack, we're going back to Central."**  
**As we dashed upstairs, the Colonel, Al, and Winry sat on the couch with Stormy. We soon made our way to the train station and bought our tickets. We did get a couple weird looks with the Colonel carrying Stormy over his shoulder and all, but I guess no one said anything because of the Colonel's uniform. On the train, there was an awkward silence.**  
**"I feel like we're kidnapping someone,"Al squeaked. The Colonel smirked and said to himself,**  
**"Having military status sure is convenient." I looked out the window to make sure there weren't any people coming out to get us or something, while the Colonel packed Stormy up in a very large suitcase to avoid any weird looks or 'disturbances'. When we put the suitcase into the compartment above us, I could have sworn that I saw it move. I decided to ignore it, and sat down on the seat. Some guy in front of me was giving me a weird look, so I glared at him. That's when a loud noise came from the compartment.**  
**"Uh... I think he's awake.." Ed said, pointing at the compartment. We all sweat-dropped, hoping no one else noticed it move. Loud banging came from the compartment and the suitcase fell out, making a loud thud. Swiftly, we all grabbed it and moved out seats to the back of the train where we were isolated. Ed took the suitcase and whispered,**  
**"Stop making noise. We're gonna get caught." A muffled but angry response was returned.**  
**"Well, I didn't ask to be stuffed in a damn suitcase! Or kidnapped!" Suddenly, Mat-chan interrupted,**  
**"...Why did we put him in a suitcase? o_0lll" We were all silent.**  
**"Well, for one, he can't run. And two, it saved us the trouble of buying another train ticket," the Colonel stated somewhat apathetically, while looking out the window.**  
**"Bastards. But fine. I'll shut up for now," Stormy grumbled. When the train pulled up in the station in Central, we all felt a little relieved. We headed to a hotel the Colonel had booked ahead of time. The suitcase was practically thrown into the room and we hurried in as well. After locking the door, we opened the suitcase. A very pissed off Stormy tumbled out. Fortunately for us, Stormy was a bit disoriented from all the tumbling around and didn't try to kill anyone. Tackling him, we cuffed him to a chair so he couldn't escape. He growled and yanked his arm with enough force to break one of the chair's arms, but I quickly transmuted some metal over it. He glared at me, making me sheepishly apologize.**  
**"So, since we caught the cause of all the lightning, what should we do, Colonel?" Mat-chan asked him, sighing a little. The Colonel seemed to be in deep thought.**  
**"You there." The Colonel was speaking to Stormy.**  
**"My name is Lucien Stormfast." Stormy replied, with a frown. I could tell he was very annoyed.**  
**"How exactly do you use lightning alchemy?" the Colonel asked him, looking a little curious. Stormy sighs, and thinks for a little while, before answering the Colonel.**  
**"Well, you have to change the particles around kind of into lightning rods, and when you shoot electrons through them, you get lightning." I nod and say,**  
**"I sort of understand. Basically, you change the air around you to form lightning, right?"**  
**Still looking annoyed, he just faced the other way.**  
**"Like I should be explaining this to you," he mumbled.**  
**I sighed and wondered what we were going to do with him...He began to yank at the handcuffs. Scowling, he began fidget.**  
**"Be careful! If you fidget too much, you'll tip the chair over!" Al squeaked. Suddenly, he violently kicked one of the chair's legs, effectively snapping it... Only to fall on his face. Although the random burst of strength was surprising, it ended up in an awkward silence. Then, Ed burst in laughter. I, of course, hit him again for being rude. Looking even more pissed, Stormy glared at me.**  
**"...I hate you people." I sweat-dropped and then, I averted my attention to the Colonel.**  
**"Colonel, what should we do now?" I asked him.**  
**"Hm... Blindfold him." he replied, pointing at Stormy. Mat-chan went ahead and did that, so we looked at the Colonel for further instructions.**  
**"Untie him and bring him outside."**  
**Wait... What?! Is he crazy?! ,I thought.**  
**"On second thought, tie his hands behind his back until we get outside. Carefully, we led Stormy outside. Outside, Stormy plopped down onto the ground, sitting with his legs half-crossed. After untying his hands, he growled at us and rubbed his wrists. Crossing his arms, he scowled, continuing to sit on the ground.**  
**"Now, why don't you show us that alchemy of yours?" the Colonel said. Not even bothering to stand up, Stormy flicked his wrist, creating a charge then snapping to release a rain of short staggered lightning bolts. We all tried to avoid the stray sparks the best we could. After the sparks had settled down, we found Stormy on the ground trying to pull off the blindfold. When it wouldn't come off, he stood up and went quiet. Suddenly, he had managed to hit Ed, blindfolded, with a knee to the stomach. Again, he stood still, listening intently, then swinging. Catching the Colonel on the cheek, he smirked. After a while, we had managed to get Stormy back inside with only minor injuries. Again, he looked like he wanted to break the chair he was in, but learned his lesson the first time. Ed sat on the coach, grumbling from earlier.**  
**"You totally deserved it!" I said, laughing. Stormy still had the blindfold on and sat in the chair quietly. Mat-chan was polishing her guns, while the Colonel rubbed his cheek.**  
**"So, Colonel, did you get the information you wanted?" I ask him, since I knew that he didn't ask Stormy to show him his alchemy for fun.**  
**He just nodded, and I knew it was because it hurts for him to talk. Stormy however, didn't seem to be bothered by the blindfold and acted like if it wasn't on. I glanced at the clock, and noticed that it was late.**  
**"We should all rest now..." I said, pointing at the clock. As each person headed toward separate rooms, Stormy interrupted,**  
**"Uh...I think you're forgetting something. =_=lll I am still cuffed to this stupid chair." The Colonel seemed to ignore him, and I replied,**  
**"We can't let you escape, though. :" Putting an annoyed face on, Stormy managed to get a pen out of his breast pocket with his mouth and throw it at Ed for good measure, pouting.**  
**"Hey, you hit me again!" Ed yelled at Stormy, very annoyed. I walked over to him and pat his head.**  
**"There, there. Now, let's go sleep, beansprout." I said to him. He glared at me, and I just smiled, fleeing to my room.**  
**"Can't catch me now~" I taunted him. Angrily, he stormed off to his room, slamming the door. The next morning, the group made their way back to the main room. Stormy, who was dozing peacefully, had managed to get his boots off earlier during the night, and was still cuffed to the chair. As the group made their way into the room, he remained asleep. The Colonel, interested, walked up to him and prodded his face. Waking up, Stormy jolted backwards, causing the chair and himself to fall backwards. The Colonel smirked and said,**  
**"I see you're awake."**  
**"Colonel! Don't be so mean!" I yelled at him, fuming. The Colonel just simply replied,**  
**"What did I do?" I sigh and help Stormy up from the ground.**  
**"...I'm STILL cuffed to this chair..." he muttered.**  
**"Colonel, can't we let him go?" The Colonel looked up and replied,**  
**"No. He showed signs of violence yesterday, and I'm not risking his escape. And my cheek is still sore." I fumed and replied,**  
**"Stop being such a jerk! I'm sure Stormy is really uncomfortable being in that chair, and that's probably why he was so violent yesterday. Plus, you know you deserve that bruise!"**  
**"Tigerwing, don't speak back to a superior officer," the Colonel replied not looking up this time.**  
**"Don't just give me that stupid line! You always say that whenever Ed and I try to talkback! What about Lieutenant Hawkeye? You let her tell you off!" I reply, a little annoyed by his statements.**  
**"You know, you guys make me sound like a badly behaved dog. -_-lll" Stormy said, interrupting our argument.**  
**"Don't get involved in this, Stormy! It's a conversation between two military officers!" I replied to Stormy's sudden outburst.**  
**He rolled his eyes and began to fidget. Turning back to the Colonel I glared. Suddenly, the door opened, and a certain creeper showed up.**  
**"Hey Colonel! I brou-Hey! Pretty alchemist is here!~ :D So have you thought about the lunch date?" I leaped and smashed a fist in his stomach, screaming,**  
**"NO!" Doubling over, he groaned. Then Colonel rubbed his temples and sighed.**  
**"C-Co-Colonel...I brought the thing you wanted," Havoc said weakly. He held out a book, one on Storm bases. The Colonel took it and began flipping through the pages. Stopping at a short chapter on lightning, he started reading. Attached to the pages were some papers held together by a clip. It was multiple reports on people who had attempted lightning alchemy and died. Thumbing through the reports, he quickly skimmed them, also. I leaned over his shoulder, reading. It explained the basic idea of how lightning was formed and theories on how to apply it to alchemy.**  
**"Eh? Colonel, you're curious about lightning alchemy, aren't you?" I asked him, averting my attention from Havoc. the Colonel was to deep in concentration to notice what I asked. He nodded, replying,**  
**"Why did so many people who performed this alchemy die...? It seems to me that these people weren't completely focused when doing so.." I glanced at him, then back at the book.**  
**"Hmmm..." I wondered.**  
**"They were just weak. They didn't have either the willpower or resolution to do it properly. They were all fools, just looking for power," Stormy said apathetically. He glared at the floor, at least that's what it looked like. I couldn't tell because we hadn't taken the blindfold off.**  
**"And they all died too. Che," he added after a moment. Still wearing the blindfold, he smirked facing me, which was kind of weird. He snapped, scaring Havoc with some sparks and then returned to staring at the floor, humming quietly. Havoc shivered and turned to the Colonel,**  
**"I should get going now..." Havoc walked out the door, but not without casting more than a few wary glances back over to the blindfolded alchemist. Said person was grinning toothily at him and waving what he could of his hand, being cuffed and all. Putting one leg up on the chair, he resumed quietly humming.**  
**"That creeper..." I whispered, referring to Havoc.**  
**"Is that who you meant by 'hooky', Tigerwing?" the Colonel smirked, and I glared at him.**  
**"Don't you dare tell anyone about this, especially not Ed!" I yelled at him, ready to pound him if necessary. He put his hands up in a defensive position.**  
**"What are you guys doing?" Mat-chan asked popping her head into the room. I relaxed and replied with a grin,**  
**"Nothing." She sighed, and went back to her room. The Colonel crossed his arms, wearing a serious face.**  
**"Well, since we've found the cause of the alchemy in Briggs, we should figure out what to do. And as much as I want to leave him cuffed to that chair, we have to do something with him." He gestured to the where Stormy is sitting. …...Or where he was sitting, considering the fact that the chair was empty. We immediately went on alert and scanned the room. There were no doors or windows open. Searching, we found him sitting on a sofa, lying down. He had managed to get the handcuffs attaching him to the chair off, but had yet to take the one binding his hands off.**  
**"How'd you get out?!" the Colonel demanded. Stormy looked up at him, replying with,**  
**"Ah..? That's a secret..." He smirked and returned to ignoring us.**  
**"I think we should get Stormy used to Central..." I said, with a sigh.**  
**"Well, at least I won't have to do paperwork." the Colonel replied, sighing. I smiled and untied Stormy's ropes. "Leave his blindfold on, though." the Colonel replied, as if he was thinking of all the things that Stormy could do if he was completely free. I nodded, and helped Stormy around the hotel, until we reached the doors.**  
**"Now, Stormy, don't go trying to run or get violent again, or the Colonel's going to get pissed..." I warned him. Grinning, he trotted down the road before I could add anything. Somehow, he didn't crash. Managing to navigate by himself, he stopped in front of a car.**  
**"...Big..metal...thing... :( It's in my way."**  
**Seeing that he was about to blow it up, I tackled him, knocking him off balance. When the Colonel had caught up with me, he yelled,**  
**"Don't blow anything up! Haven't you ever seen a car before?!...Er...Sensed a car?"**  
**Stormy tilted his head to one side, then trotted off again on his own.**  
**"He's kind of like a small toddler!" I laughed, watching Stormy try to figure his way around the road. He ended up in front of a large building, and stopped. Looking confused, he sat down on the sidewalk. I walked over to him and asked,**  
**"You don't have a clue of where to go, do you?"**  
**"...I wanna go to an...an...Ice cream shop." he replied.**  
**I sweat-dropped and looked around for an ice cream shop.**  
**"Hey, Colonel! Do you know where the ice cream shop is?" I ask him, with a somewhat excited voice. He gave me an incredulous look and replied,**  
**"What? Why do you want to go eat ice cream? You're on a job here, Tigerwing." I pouted and said,**  
**"Take me to an ice cream shop, right now! :I" Stormy crept up behind him and tackling him, yelled,**  
**"I wanna go eat ice cream!"**  
**He sounded a lot like a little kid whining. The Colonel finally gave in, shouting,**  
**"Alright! Alright! Just let go of me!" Stormy and I patiently waited outside the hotel, as the Colonel went to get the others. We all walked to an ice cream parlor a couple blocks away, keeping an eye on Stormy as well, making sure he didn't pull anything. At the store, we all stood choosing flavors. Stormy just stood there, being unable to tell what kind of ice cream there was. I walked over to him and asked,**  
**"What kind do you want? :D" he looked up with a small frown,**  
**"I want a banana split!" Ed interrupted. Mat-chan came up and got a strawberry cone. I sat down in a booth, eating my soft serve, and looking outside.**  
**"...D:" Stormy stood there, tugging at my sleeve.**  
**"Oh! You can't see what there is? Whoops, I forgot. :D" I got up and finished my cone.**  
**"Well, maybe you should get a cone. It'll be easier eating than a split. Or a parfait with a straw." I said rambling on. Stormy just sat down in an empty seat. The Colonel walked over and smacked the top of his head.**  
**"Behave. Don't blow anything up and maybe I'll help you," he said smirking.**  
**"Oi.. Colonel! Don't be so mean!" I scolded him, a little annoyed at how he was treating Stormy. Stormy looked up then grinned deviously. Biting the Colonel's hand, he ran out the door.**  
**"...See, Colonel? Bad things happen because of you," I said sighing. Since everyone had finished their ice cream, we all went outside. The nearest place was a park so we ran towards it and began searching for Stormy. Getting tired of running around, we stopped under a tree to catch our breath. As we were resting, leaves kept falling on our heads. The Colonel getting annoyed looked up, as well as the rest of us.**  
**"Stormy! Get down here!" I shouted up into the tree. He was lounging on a branch, leaning back.**  
**"How did he even get up there?" the Colonel muttered.**  
**"If you don't come down, I'll cut this tree down!" Ed shouted. This resulted in him getting hit on the head with a branch.**  
**"Ed! This is in a public park!" Mat-chan chided. He rubbed his head and glared.**  
**"Brother, don't be a tree-hater," Al squeaked. "You there!" the Colonel shouted, referring to Stormy.**  
**"Come down, or I'll incinerate this tree along with you in it."**  
**"...Nyooo. Such a tree-hater Colonel. I'm stuck in this tree. :3"**  
**Stormy replied, obviously lying.**  
**"If you're stuck, I'm going to go up and help you down." I replied, starting to get up into the tree.**  
**"Hehe. :D I lied." With that line he leaped easily out of the tree, landing lightly on the ground. Trotting off towards a field, he left us standing under the tree.**  
**"I was afraid he lied." I said, trying to descend the tree. Off in the distance, Stormy lay down in the middle of the field, rolling around in the grass. I eventually reached the ground and looked around for where Stormy went off to.**  
**"We might as well call the 'Lost Child' Agency..." Ed sighed, looking a little tired of Stormy's shenanigans.**  
**"I should burn this whole park, it'll save us the trouble of looking," sighed the Colonel.**  
**We walked towards the general direction where Stormy had run off. After walking through the field for some while, we found him in the middle of the field. he was curled up sleeping, hidden by the tall grass.**  
**"Geez. That guy had to go make all that trouble, then fall asleep somewhere random?" Ed complained.**  
**"Well, at least it's over now." I replied, with a weary tone. Rolling in his sleep, even Stormy smiled.**  
**"Let's go back to the hotel, now... I'm tired..." I whined, yawning.**  
**"Colonel! You should take Stormy back to the hotel with us!" Mat-chan said, pointing at the Colonel.**  
**"What?! Why me?!" he shouted, a little shocked.**  
**"Because you're oldest of all of us, so you'd be physically stronger." everyone else replied. He sighed.**  
**"Can't we just wake him up?" he whined. Bending down, he tried poking Stormy's face.**  
**"No, don't wake him up! He'd just go off somewhere again." I replied, fuming. I don't want to do that ever again... , I thought. Grumbling, the Colonel slung Stormy over his shoulder and said,**  
**"Hurry up. Let's go." Just then, a few blocks away, there was a large explosion.**  
**"What's going on over there, I wonder?" Mat-chan said, trying to look for what might have caused the explosion. We ran towards the source of the explosion. Due to all the running, Stormy woke up along the way.**  
**"...Why are you carrying me?" he asked, sleepily.**  
**"It's because you fell asleep in the field and it was too risky to wake you up." Ed replied. Stormy made a face and replied,**  
**"Aww...you don't trust me?" He assumed a sleepy sad face while the Colonel carried him.**  
**"If you're awake, use your damn legs and run by yourself!"**  
**The Colonel shouted. Stormy looked like he was debating with himself. Then he replied,**  
**"But I'm still sleepy...I think I'll just stay here..."**  
**As we got closer, I could see a figure in the distance. It was the same one as in Briggs. I squinted, trying to see better. The dust was beginning to settle and I could almost make it out.**  
**"Clear the area! All citizens should immediately evacuate!" the Colonel barked out. Mat-chan readied a gun she had been carrying. Out of the dust, a certain explosive alchemist came out smirking.**  
**"Miss me?"**  
**"Tsugoke!" I shout, already clapping my hands together to transmute the ground. Caught a bit off guard, he almost managed to dodge my attack, but lost his balance. The attack hit him, just barely, near the abdominal area. He grunted in pain, but not before attempting to cause another explosion. I intercepted him and knocked him back several yards. The Colonel tossed Stormy to the side and swiftly snapped his fingers. Stormy managed to land on his feet and sat down on the pavement.**  
**"Stormy! Help us, please?" I asked him, trying to pay attention to Tsugoke while speaking to Stormy.**  
**He tilted his head, crossing his arms. Quickly, snapping, he created staggered lightning, surprising Tsugoke.**  
**"Just because I helped, doesn't mean I forgive you guys for kidnapping me," he replied, apathetically.**  
**"That's why I keep saying sorry!" I replied.**  
**"Hmn..? I don't hear the Colonel apologizing. Well, that's a shame," he said smirking. Swiftly, he punched Tsugoke in the stomach, following with kneeing him in the chin. When Tsugoke stumbled back, Stormy snapped, creating a shower of sparks aimed at said victim's face.**  
**"Hee! You're on your own now. : I think I'll go watch," Stormy said trotting away and sitting back down.**  
**"Eh..?!" I said, very surprised. Tsugoke, recovering from the wave of attacks, got back up, angrier than before. I looked around for anything I could use, then realized what I had planned to use in case of an emergency. I clapped my hands together and then pointed at the space in front of Tsugoke, and created a small flare explosion.**  
**"Guys! We should get out of here, while he's blinded!" I shouted at the others. Stormy got up and crossed his arms.**  
**"Well, if you're so intent on getting away, I might as well finish this."**  
**He smirked and punched Tsugoke smack in the face again. Tsugoke, growling, created another explosion. Using the force of the explosion, Stormy leaped backwards and waved her hand, generating more lightning. Using the chance, Mat-chan had managed to get in a few well-aimed shots at Tsugoke. Tsugoke was hit, but he could still stand, and managed to throw something sharp at me. It hit my right shoulder, and when I finally saw what it was, I remembered what Tsugoke had taken from me in our last fight. My feathers were taken, and he had thrown one at me!**  
**"How ironic is that? Getting hit with your own feather!" Tsugoke shouted, laughing maniacally.**  
**"...It's not ironic anymore, thanks to you. And keeping her feathers makes you seem kind of stalkerish," Stormy added from the sidelines, grinning.**  
**He scowled, creating a small chain of explosions and yelling,**  
**"Shut up! A lazy idiot like you shouldn't be talking!" Stormy stood up and went silent. His face darkening, he simply said,**  
**"Shut up." Immediately following, he shot a large bolt of lightning at Tsugoke. Getting in close, Stormy took a swing at him. Taking out a concealed dagger from his boot, Stormy began to slash at Tsugoke. Throwing the dagger up in the air, Stormy swiftly elbowed his gut, caught the dagger, and managed to slash it in Tsugoke's shoulder. When he screamed in pain, his face was met with Stormy's boot.**  
**"Finish him off. Do whatever you want," Stormy said apathetically,**  
**"You let fools like him run around and it'll only cause trouble."**  
**He had received several injuries during the fight. Looking annoyed, he sat back down. Screaming, Tsugoke got back up and tried to create more explosions. He was quickly stopped by Mat-chan, giving me the chance to hit him with a transmuted hand. When he flew back, the Colonel hit him with a large fireball.**  
**"That must have got him!" I shouted, with a happy tone. We watched carefully, hoping that the alchemist would stay down, only to be surprised when the blaze was returned with a quick explosion.**  
**"I guess he's still in the game." I replied, with a grimace.**  
**"Not anymore! :D" Mat-chan said triumphantly, when she managed to shoot his knees with the Black Hawk Convertible. Tsugoke crumpled over in pain screaming. As the Colonel ran over, I transmuted his hands to the ground to prevent him escaping or attacking.**  
**"Well, the shots to his knees aren't fatal, but he won't be walking anywhere anytime soon," the Colonel stated. Placing a call, the Colonel made orders for the convict to be securely captured. Just as the first officers began to arrive, the ground began to rumble and shake. As the cobblestones of the city became loose, ominous cracking was heard. With a earsplitting BOOM, the ground gave away, crumbling down. Unfortunately for us, some did not manage to get out of the way of the splitting earth and tumbled down along with the falling chunks of stone and dust. I began coughing as the dust swirled violently around. "Tsugoke's gone!" I heard the Colonel shout in outrage, though I could not see him or anyone else for the fact. Suddenly the ground below me lurched, and the stone gave away. Wildly, I started clawing around me, hoping to catch myself before I fell. I landed among the crumbled ruins of what used to be a street. Dusting myself off, I noted I had a couple scrapes and bruises. However, none were too serious and so I stood up slowly. Looking up, I saw only more piled debris. The street had caved in sealing off the outside. While sighing at the great amount of stone, a sudden noise caught my attention. Turning around, I saw the large figure of Alphonse in the dim light.**  
**"Al! You fell down here, too?"**  
**"Sora! Yea, are the others here, too?" he squeaked. I looked around, and circled the enclosure. Stumbling over something, I managed to not fall and heard a grumble. Confused, I whipped around.**  
**"Watch it. :I That hurt," the person complained.**  
**"Stormy? What the heck? You could've said something earlier!"**  
**Al had ran over to see what had happened. Giving an exasperated sigh, he replied,**  
**"Well gee, I was too busy getting hit on the head, then getting the same stupid rock on my foot. I'm stuck so I was just gonna sleep here. :I"**  
**I sweat-dropped.**  
**"What about using your alchemy?" I asked in disbelief.**  
**"Well, if I tried, I would probably electrocute you guys by accident. I did get hit on the head, so I can't concentrate. When is Colonel Pyro, the Beansprout, and Gun-girl getting here?" I shrugged my shoulders in reply.**  
**"I hope the Colonel sends a search troop soon. We could die without oxygen or water." I answered.**  
**"Says you, I can have platypi. :P" The lightning alchemist replied carelessly. Somehow, he had gotten a furry, duck-billed creature without us noticing earlier. Petting it, he was feeding it random things.**  
**"Hey Sora, what is that? It looks like a chimera," Al squeaked.**  
**"It's actually a real animal, Al. It lays eggs even though it's a mammal," I reply.**  
**"Imma name you Ducky. :D" I heard Stormy say grinning evilly.**  
**"Then we shall take over the world."**  
**"Are you being serious?!" I asked, half shouting. He looked up, only to say,**  
**"Don't shout! You're going to waste air! And no air means Ducky will die and never attain world conquest! D:"**  
**He began to wail.**  
**"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry!" I replied, a little annoyed.**  
**Al hugged his knees-well the armor's knees-and murmured,**  
**"I hope brother comes soon..." I patted him on the back reassuringly.**  
**"Do you want to hold Ducky? :D It will make you feel better," a certain dark-haired alchemist piped up.**  
**Making an odd noise, the platypus curled up in Al's lap. I sat down on a large chunk of rock, hoping a search troop would find us soon. We all just kind of lolled around, not doing much to conserve energy and air. Every once in a while, we heard the platypus shift in Al's lap, but other than that, not much. Al, just sat with 'Ducky', Stormy slept most of the time, and I just traced patterns in the dust calculating.**  
**Perhaps I could transmute the stone? No, that might cause even more to cave in and crush us. After all, we didn't know how deep we were underground. I sighed, and looked around. I saw the dim outlines of various boulders and debris. Suddenly, I felt something nudging my foot. I jumped and looked down. It was Ducky making more weird noises and echoing around. He insistently kept nudging and kind of biting my boot. I grumbled, nudging him gently with the toe of my boot. I could swear he glared at me, then waddled off back to Stormy, sitting on his head.**  
**Okay..., I thought. Overhead, I heard faint scraping. Some dust showered from above and faint light flooded in. Al and I jolted up immediately, Stormy was sleeping or something. After a couple anxious minutes, all the debris was cleared away and I saw the daylight.**  
**Could it be that someone is helping us?, I thought.**  
**I could see MPs (Military Police XD) clearing away some dirt and rocks that were churned up. Never before, have been this glad to see the Colonel.**  
**"Colonel! How did you know we were down here?" I asked, as I was getting out. I was helped with climbing out of the hole by Al and Stormy.**  
**"Actually... I didn't think you three would be there. I ordered the soldiers to churn up the rubble in case Tsugoke thought of hiding there..." the Colonel replied, a little quietly. There was a bit of silence as I tried to process what exactly it was that he said.**  
**"...Wait... So... WE COULD'VE DIED THERE?!" I yelled at him, half-shouting and half-asking. He nodded, averting his eyes to the floor. I was debating whether or not to punch him, and just when I made my decision, I lunged for him, Al stepped up and held me back.**  
**"Sora-chan! Please don't do anything so rash!" he squeaked, worriedly. Blinded by rage, I pressed on and exclaimed,**  
**"Let me go, Al! I'm going to punch the Colonel! Rarrgh!" I kept struggling, which made Al hold onto me even harder.**  
**"Al! Let me go!" I holler, still trying to get at the Colonel. While I was busy trying to get away from Al, Mat-chan came over and whacked me on the head.**  
**"Ow! What was that for, Mat-chan?!" I scream, a little irritated. Mat-chan also seemed annoyed.**  
**"You weren't paying attention, that's why!" she replied. I scowled and looked away.**  
**"Well, now that we found everybody, we can go look for Tsugoke." the Colonel interrupted.**  
**"As if you weren't already looking for him.." I added, silently.**  
**"Can I take Ducky with me?" a certain dark-haired alchemist asked, his eyes shining. I sighed, and the Colonel sweatdropped, saying,**  
**"Um.. Go ahead..?" Stormy was helped with climbing out of the hole, and immediately he was surrounded by soldiers, in case he decided to run away again.**  
**"We should form a 'buddy system'." I sighed.**  
**The Colonel and the others looked at me blankly.**  
**"A buddy system is a system of people who stick together to keep everyone in check. For example, if we wanted to keep Ed from running away, we would surround him while walking to a specific place. The Colonel could be in front with me, Mat-chan on the left side of Ed, Stormy on the other side, and Al, since he has a large body, would be the only one behind Ed." I replied, sighing again. The Colonel nodded, understanding the concept of the system, while the others thought about it awhile. They eventually nodded, looking as if they understood. I motioned for Stormy to come over, and when he did, we all surrounded him.**  
**"? Why are you all surrounding me?" he asked, still holding Ducky.**  
**"Um... In case someone attacks you! You never know who might try something, you know?" I replied, sweat-dropping at the fact that he caught somewhat of a grip on what we were doing. Stormy seemed to accept my answer, and we all sighed in relief. We all started to walk, but then a thought came to my mind.**  
**"Where exactly are we going, Colonel?" I asked, wondering if he knew where he was going.**  
**"...Er... Why don't you all just go back to the hotel? For now, since we don't have any idea where Tsugoke could be, we ought to wait for him to strike again." the Colonel replied, with a very unstable voice. We all looked at him with a weary expression, before going to the hotel. As we were walking, we were extra careful on watching Stormy, in case he ran off again. At the hotel, we all regrouped into our main hotel room.**  
**"Well, Colonel? Any genius ideas now?" I said with a sarcastic smile. He gave me a withered look, and crossed his arms.**  
**"Don't push it Tigerwing," he snorted. Ed, getting impatient, huffed loudly and sat on a couch, reclining.**  
**"So we just...wait?" Mat-chan asked with a look of disbelief.**  
**"...Well, er..yes. We have no other way of tracking Tsugoke," the Colonel said somewhat sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. We all groaned and sat uneasily. Interrupting the awkward silence, Stormy stated,**  
**"Ducky's gone. :( He went to attain world conquest..."**  
**An awkward silence resumed. Out of boredom, the Colonel decided to go to the kitchenette and began to rummage through the cupboards. Ed remained on the couch while Mat-chan resumed to polishing her guns. A half-hour passed, and nothing had happened. Pacing, the Colonel was having a bit of a nervous fit.**  
**"Colonel? Why do you seem so jittery?" asked Al.**  
**"I'm just waiting for any information on-" the Colonel was interrupted by a sudden razor-sharp cut on Mat-chan's cheek. We are looked at the window-er-at what was once a window, and saw that Tsugoke had appeared , he wasn't alone. There was a hooded figure standing next to seemed very dangerous.**  
**"Well, we kind of found Tsugoke." I said, sweat dropping. Ed came running up to him and yelled,**  
**"You could have killed us!"**  
**Everyone, including me, came out also agreeing with Ed.**  
**"Huh? So there were some people I know in that hotel room" Tsugoke said.**  
**"He didn't even know we were in there.." I replied, sweat-dropping again. The figure next to him looked at Tsugoke as if for approval to join the fight. Tsugoke nodded at it and it swiftly came charging at Ed. Ed dodged, but his cheek was cut somehow. Surprised, he staggered a little before regaining his balance.**  
**"Surprised? I'm sure your own kind didn't shock you, Sora!" Tsugoke laughed, evilly.**  
**My own kind? What was he talking about? I wondered.**  
**"What are you talking about, Tsugoke?!" I asked him.**  
**"Come now! You haven't figured it out, yet?" Tsugoke replied. Ed seemed to know what Tsugoke was talking about.**  
**"Sora! Don't listen to him!" Ed told me. Tsugoke was laughing again and so, I yelled, once again,**  
**"What are you talking about?!"**  
**"I'm talking about CHIMERAS. There are so many chimeras that hate you for turning the very organization that changed them!"**  
**Those words hit me hard.**  
**Me? Chimeras hate me? Those words were trapped in my head. I couldn't move my legs; my entire body wouldn't move. In my petrification, I could see that Tsugoke came charging at me, with a fist ready.**

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A/N: Oh noes! What will happen next?! Find out when I get at least 4 new reviews! :D Ed will also give you all a cookie! :D

Ed: What?!

CTA: You are giving everybody one. Understand? +^+

Ed: *nods*


	6. Chapter 5: A New Mission (SHORT CHAP)

A/N: YO~ It's SK-CF here~ Woot! I have decided to just release the next chapter. -Sigh- Although I wish that people would start to read it more... Is it that bad? Please rate and review! Otherwise Sora and Ed will get shorter! Anyways... Here's my newest chapter.

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**"Move, you idiot!" Ed's voice rang clearly in my head. He ran in front of me and took Tsugoke's blow.  
"Ed! Why would you do that?!" I asked him. Ed looked at me and replied,  
"Because you're an idiot who'd do the same thing for me. Don't forget that you've got all of us here."  
He was smiling at me with that cheeky smile of his. I realized that I wasn't alone anymore. I had so many friends, yet how could I just stand there so selfishly stupid? I smiled and said silently,  
"Thank you."  
Averting my attention back to Tsugoke, I got myself ready for battle.  
"Tsugoke! You'd better get yourself ready for the pain I'll inflict on you!" I told him, a determined look on my face. I ran over to him swiftly and pounded him in the stomach. Then, I clapped my hands together and slammed them on the ground in order to transmute the stone ground into arms which grabbed and held Tsugoke's arms in place and far away from each other. Now he couldn't harm anyone with alchemy, so I planned to deal with him later. The only enemy left was the chimera.  
"Ed! Al! We should try to corner the chimera in an abandoned building. That's where the Colonel steps in! But, before that, Mat-chan will immobilize the chimera with a stun bullet to make sure it doesn't escape." I whispered, but loud enough so the others could hear.  
Everyone nodded and Ed, Al, and I started to chase the chimera. It seemed to be waiting for us, and when we approached it, it jumped over us and started to attack.  
"Split up!" I yelled, and Ed, Al, and I scattered in different directions. We planned to meet back up in the abandoned house across the street. The chimera, not knowing who to chase, chased after Al. I kept running around the abandoned house, before I got to a shattered window. I hopped in through there, and looked around. It seemed Ed and Al did not get here yet, so I looked around. The building actually appeared to be an abandoned church. There were many rows of long benches in the middle of the room I was in, and I could see an old, worn down pedestal in front of everything. I stepped behind it, and pretended to be a priest, preaching. It was funny! XD Soon, I could hear scuffling noises near the door, so I opened it, and Ed and Al both jumped in, with the chimera hot on their heels.  
"Call Gun-girl!" Ed shouted, frantically. I nodded and took out a walkie talkie and called Mat-chan to start shooting at the chimera. She fired a number of stun bullets, each missing Ed, Al, and I, yet hitting the chimera. The chimera howls in pain, and the rest of us escape from the building.  
"Colonel! It's your turn!" I yelled, and saw that the Colonel was one step ahead of me. He snapped his fingers and the building caught on fire. It was almost explosive.  
"Yeah! We got them!" Everyone shouted. After we stopped the fire, we went back inside to retrieve a stunned and singed chimera from the ashes. The Colonel called his soldiers to arrest Tsugoke and the chimera.  
"Whew! I'm glad this is finally over!" I shouted, jumping up and stretching.  
"I'm sorry, Tigerwing, but you're going to have to attend school." the Colonel said. I gaped at him and before I asked why, he said,  
"As well as the rest of your friends. This is since we've gotten information that a high schooler has the powers of not such a good use to the society and we need to keep him/her under a restraint from releasing those powers. If it's too late we may have to exterminate that high schooler. We need you five to get into the school. Since Alphonse is a bit large, he cannot attend the school. He will work behind the scenes as a 'parent' for you all." All of us stared at him in dismay and shock.  
"So.. We have to go to HIGH SCHOOL?" we all asked. He nodded. "I'll be working as a teacher, so good luck. Make sure you all come to school, or I'll hunt you down~" he laughs, walking off quickly to get to his office in the HQ.  
"Colonel! At least tell us where!" I shouted. He turned and answered,  
"At Flacius High! It's a block away from the hotel."  
All of us decided to head home and get ready. I packed a couple things, then realized what I was going to do to hide my chimera giveaways. It wasn't too difficult to hide my ears, and the tail I can say is a decoration of my pants, but the wings? I mean, I could probably pass them off as a decoration too, but I don't think they'd believe me.  
Maybe I can tuck them in a little? Or maybe I can wear a jacket? I can't really change into a human since I'm not a complete chimera... As I thought about what to do, a slight tapping noise came on my door.  
"You can come in." I said. It was Al.  
"Um, Sora? Do you know how to act like an adult?" he asks me. I stare at him for a few heartbeats, dumbfounded.  
"Why not ask your brother?" I finally replied.  
"Well... Don't tell nii-san this, but, he's not very mature, so I'm afraid to ask." he squeaks.  
I chuckle, and then answer his question.  
"Well, to be an adult, you have take charge, and show your manners, and be polite to everyone, no matter what they say or do. Though, sometimes, there are exceptions. If someone you care about has made a silly mistake, like Ed for instance, you can scold him, depending on what he made a mistake on. If it was a prank or ditching class, you can yell at him." Al seemed to think about these things, and laughed when I mentioned Ed.  
"Wow. Being an adult is actually really difficult, huh? But, I've got to take the responsibility." Al said, determinedly. I smiled and said,  
"Good luck, DAD~" Al sweat-dropped and bowed, before leaving the room. I finished packing soon, and decided to wear a coat to class everyday, to conceal the wings at least.**

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A/N: How was it? It was short, wasn't it? This was originally meant to be apart of another chapter, but it would have made that chapter too long, so I just added this as a different chapter. Anyways... Please rate and review~ I don't have much to say this time.


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